Rover

The term Rover as used here describes any all-terrain vehicle designed to traverse the surface of a planet, moon, or asteroid. It allows exploring the surface on a variety of places, collecting and examining Minerals, taking photos. The first rover (Lunokhod 1) was unmanned and remote controlled on Earth's Moon in 1970. During the Apollo missions in the 1970s rovers have been used manned to extend the exploration range of the crew. It was not until 1997 that the first rover landed successfully on Mars.

Successful Mars rovers

• Sojourner (1997)
• Spirit (2004)
• Opportunity (2004)

Planned Mars rovers

• The Mars Science Laboratory is currently under development by NASA and is planned for launch in the fall of 2011.
• ExoMars is being developed by the ESA and is scheduled for a 2013 launch and 2014 landing.
• The Beaver rover is planned as part of the Canadian Northern Light mission.