YFarmX Space · Mars desk

Mars

Rovers, orbiters and sample science on Mars, plus the hard engineering between here and a crewed landing.

The hardware

Surface rover

Six wheeled science rover on rocker bogie suspension: camera mast, stowed instrument arm and a radioisotope power unit.

The rocker-bogie suspension is the signature: real bars on real pivots, not sticks — the linkage is what says rover
A mast with a stereo camera head, and a robotic arm folded against the front bumper with an instrument turret at its wrist
A radioisotope power unit with cooling fins on the tail, and a small steerable dish for the link home

Class: Rovers
Built scale: 3.3 m long, six wheels
Where the class lives: Planetary surfaces — Mars, today
Geometry: 39,488 triangles, modelled as real parts

Real rovers of the class: NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance, driving on Mars since 2012 and 2021 on exactly this suspension. The model is the class, not either of them.

Mars desk →Robotics desk →

Illustration · class archetype · real geometry

Missions on this desk · 3

NASA/JPL illustration of the Perseverance rover on the Martian surface, restyled with a deep-space sky.

Perseverance rover (Mars 2020)

surface operations

NASA · Mars (Jezero Crater)

Active in Jezero Crater, hunting signs of ancient life and caching samples, including the Sapphire Canyon sample whose potential biosignatures reached a Nature paper in 2025.

Perseverance remains active in and around Jezero Crater, continuing its search for signs of ancient microbial life and caching samples for a possible future return to Earth. NASA's mission page highlights the Sapphire Canyon sample, drilled from the Cheyava Falls rock, whose potential biosignatures were confirmed in a peer-reviewed Nature paper in September 2025. The page's running totals (over 30 kilometres driven, 24 rock and regolith samples plus one air sample) carry an October 2024 stamp, so current figures are higher.

last verified 2026-08-07 · Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech, restyled

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Curiosity's self-portrait at Rocknest in Gale Crater, restyled with a deep-space sky.

Curiosity rover (Mars Science Laboratory)

extended mission

NASA · Mars (Gale Crater)

Exploring Gale Crater since 2012 and still active, with 42 drilled samples and organic molecules never seen before on Mars.

Curiosity has been exploring Gale Crater since landing on 6 August 2012 and NASA still lists it as an active mission. It has collected 42 powderised rock samples with the drill on its robotic arm and recently found organic molecules never seen before on Mars. NASA's page records the rover reaching its 4,740th Martian day on 6 December 2025, when it captured a rare night-time view using LED lights on its arm.

last verified 2026-08-07 · Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, restyled

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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

extended mission

NASA · Mars (orbit)

Twenty years at Mars and still working: the orbiter passed 100,000 HiRISE images in December 2025 and relays for both active rovers.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has operated continuously since March 2006, and NASA marked its twentieth anniversary at Mars on 23 June 2026 with the orbiter still listed as an active mission. Its HiRISE camera passed its 100,000th image in December 2025, and the spacecraft continues studying the atmosphere and surface while relaying data for Perseverance and Curiosity. It is now the senior spacecraft of a thinner fleet: NASA declared MAVEN ended on 3 June 2026 after contact was lost the previous December.

last verified 2026-08-08 · Image: NASA/JPL, restyled

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Latest from the desk

15 Jul 2026Mars

Perseverance Reads 75 Metres Of Mars That Nothing Has Recycled

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