50 Fun Facts About Mars Rovers

Sojourner, the first rover on the Red Planet, arrived in 1997 as part of which NASA mission?

It was the first wheeled vehicle to operate on a world other than Earth or the Moon.

Sojourner was named after Sojourner Truth, who was what?

The name came from a 12-year-old's winning essay in a NASA contest.

Who won the contest to name Sojourner?

She was from Bridgeport, Connecticut; runner-up Deepti Rohatgi proposed Marie Curie.

After landing, Sojourner's lander was renamed in honour of which astronomer?

Sagan had died in December 1996, seven months before the landing.

Rocks at Sojourner's landing site were named after what?

Barnacle Bill, Yogi, Scooby-Doo and Casper were among the rocks analysed.

Roughly how far did Sojourner travel before contact was lost?

It rarely strayed more than 10 metres from its lander.

Sojourner's identical flight spare, later given to the Smithsonian, is named after whom?

Complex command sequences were rehearsed on it at JPL before being sent to Mars.

What is the name of the six-wheel suspension first flown on Sojourner and reused on later rovers?

JPL engineer Donald Bickler developed it for the experimental "Rocky" vehicles.

Sojourner's lander suffered computer resets in 1997 traced to which software fault?

It was fixed from Earth on 21 July by enabling priority inheritance.

Sojourner landed in which ancient flood channel?

It was chosen as a rocky but relatively safe plain photographed by the Viking missions.

Spirit landed in January 2004 inside which impact crater?

The crater was thought to be a former lake, fed by a channel.

Spirit's landing site was named as a memorial to the crew of which spacecraft?

The shuttle had broken up on re-entry less than a year earlier.

How long were Spirit and Opportunity designed to operate?

Spirit lasted 20 times longer, Opportunity 55 times.

Spirit became permanently stuck in May 2009 at a spot engineers called what?

It was resting on a hidden patch of loose iron sulfate with almost no cohesion.

How far did Spirit drive in total, against a planned 600 m?

Its right front wheel failed in 2006, so it spent years driving backwards.

Both Spirit and Opportunity carry metal salvaged from where?

The pieces were turned into shields protecting cables on the drilling tools.

Opportunity landed on which Martian plain?

It rolled to a stop inside the small Eagle crater.

Opportunity's lander was named as a memorial to which shuttle?

Its twin's site honoured the Columbia crew.

What was Opportunity's nickname?

A 2022 documentary was called Good Night Oppy.

How far did Opportunity drive over its 14 years?

That is more than a marathon, and the record for any off-world vehicle.

Where was Opportunity when it passed 42.195 km in March 2015?

JPL technicians celebrated by running a race of their own.

What silenced Opportunity in June 2018?

Its last message came from Perseverance Valley with the highest atmospheric opacity ever measured.

Who actually wrote the famous line "My battery is low and it's getting dark"?

Jacob Margolis tweeted it as a poetic translation and later clarified the rover sent no words.

Which meteorite did Opportunity find near its discarded landing hardware?

It is also called the Meridiani Planum meteorite.

Which crater did Opportunity reach in 2011 and treat as a "second landing site"?

It had spent two years exploring Victoria crater on the way.

Curiosity landed in August 2012 inside which crater?

Its target was the layered mountain in the middle, informally called Mount Sharp.

Curiosity's touchdown spot was named after which science-fiction author?

Bradbury Landing was named on 22 August 2012, what would have been his 92nd birthday.

Who named Curiosity?

The Kansas schoolgirl beat 9,000 entries and signed her name on the rover at JPL.

Curiosity is powered by the decay of which isotope?

The generator produces about 110 watts and warms the rover with its waste heat.

Curiosity was lowered to the surface on a 20-metre tether from what?

The descent stage then flew off and crash-landed a safe distance away.

Curiosity's wheel treads leave a pattern in the sand that spells what in Morse code?

NASA would not allow the letters to be printed plainly, so engineers hid them in the tread.

What tune did Curiosity play to itself on 6 August 2013?

It marked one Earth year since landing.

How many cameras does Curiosity carry?

Eight of them are HazCams and four are NavCams.

Perseverance landed in which crater, chosen for its ancient river delta?

The delta was built by the Neretva river billions of years ago.

Perseverance's landing site was named after which author?

Curiosity's site honoured Ray Bradbury.

Who won the contest to name Perseverance?

More than 28,000 proposals came in from K-12 students.

Perseverance's MOXIE experiment produced what from the Martian atmosphere?

It made 5.37 grams in its first hour and 122 grams in total.

What message was hidden in the colour pattern of Perseverance's parachute?

The Theodore Roosevelt quote is JPL's unofficial motto; Twitter users cracked the binary code.

Perseverance carried the first working examples of what to Mars?

They showed sound travels slower and quieter in the thin air.

How many flights did the Ingenuity helicopter complete before it was grounded?

It was only meant to fly five times in 30 sols.

What was the Mars helicopter's nickname?

Its first flight, on 19 April 2021, was the first powered flight on another world.

Who named the Mars helicopter?

Her essay came from the same "Name the Rover" contest that named Perseverance.

What piece of history is attached to a cable under the Mars helicopter?

NASA called the first flight its "Wright Brothers moment".

What ended the helicopter's mission in January 2024?

Its navigation system got lost over featureless sand dunes on flight 72.

The helicopter's final resting area was nicknamed after hills from which author's work?

The Valinor Hills take their name from the land of the immortals in his legendarium.

What is the name of China's rover, which landed in May 2021?

It was carried by the Tianwen-1 mission and made China the second country to run a rover on Mars.

China's rover is named after a mythological figure associated with what?

Mars is called "the Planet of Fire" in Chinese.

China's rover landed in which region of Mars?

Viking 2 had landed in the same vast plain in 1976.

How were the tiny Soviet PrOP-M rovers of 1971 meant to move?

Each weighed 4.5 kg and stayed tethered to its lander by cable; neither ever operated.

What would propel the proposed spherical Mars Tumbleweed Rover?

Team Tumbleweed hopes to land a swarm of 90 of them by 2034.