A Rover Family Portrait

NASA’s Perseverance rover carried an Easter egg onboard: A family portrait showing the evolution of our wheeled avatars on the Red Planet. What have these rovers taught us?

Mars rover family portrait aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Five rovers have successfully landed on the surface of Mars to date, all from NASA: Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Each one of these has built upon the knowledge gained from its predecessors to help us paint a more…