by Sophie Bushwick / illustrations by Diego PatinaOUR MOST STALWART
celestial explorers are hitch hikers.
Autonomous rovers such as
Sojourner, the bouncing robots
of Minerva II, and the crewed
Apollo moon buggies might not
log as much mileage as the rock-
ets they ride, but the relatively
wee lengths they travel cover the
final legs of journeys into the un-
known. On the surface of Mars,
asteroids, and the moon, these
intrepid travelers look for water,
gather samples, and capture pho-
tos that showcase alien worlds to
the Earth- bound. These are the
tracks of six off-world trotters.
OVERVIEW
rove if you
want to
Distance: 0.06 miles
Destination: Mars
Date: 1997
Origin: USAAlthough Sojourner,
the first rover on Mars,
trundled only a s
way, it managed
nab more than 5
pics while study
composition of a
rocks and soil.IOSITY
ce: 12.3 miles
Destination: Mars
Date: 2012–present
Origin: USAThe nearly 2,000-
pound Curiosity
hasn’t gotten too far.
It was designed to
aporize rocks and
nap X-rays around
he once- watery Gale
rater— not to
wander far afield.MINERVA II
1A AND 1B
Distance:0.25 miles
Destination: Ryugu
Date: 2018–
Origin: JapanThese twin hexagonal
vers don’t roll; they
p in their asteroid’s
eak gravity. Leaps
st around 15 min-
es and cover about
0 horizontal feet.14 SPRING 2019 • POPSCI.COM
OPPORTUNITY
Distance: 28+ miles
Destination: Mars
Date: 2004–?
Origin: USAOpportunity’s
three- month mission
is in its 14th year. It fell
silent in a 2018 dust
storm, and as of
ublication, NASA wa
till attempting to
ontact the little rove
hat could.LUNOKHOD 2
Distance: 24 miles
Destination: Moon
Date: 1973
Origin: USSRAfter landing the
first-ever lunar rover in
1970, the USSR sent
this sequel. The robot
deduced that ambient
light in the moon’s
actually
hter than it
.APOLLO 15 LRV
Distance: 17.3 miles
Destination: Moon
Date: 1971
Origin: USAThree successive moon
missions boasted
versions of this buggy.
In a three-hour t
during Apollo 15
helped astronau
collect 170 poun
samples from a t
of lunar regions.