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Astronomy & Space vocabulary · Space Missions & Launches

Rover

Meaning in astronomy & space, with examples

/ˈroʊvər/nounCore term

In astronomy & space, rover means: A wheeled vehicle that drives across the surface of a planet or moon, either robotic and remote-controlled or driven by astronauts.

In Turkish: keşif aracı, gezgin, gezici robot

How it is used

Most often heard about Mars rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance. Teams drive and command a rover, plan its route and report how far it has travelled. The Apollo astronauts drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon.

Example sentences

  1. The rover drilled into the rock and stored the sample in a sealed tube.

  2. Because of the signal delay, engineers cannot drive the Mars rover in real time.

Common collocations

  • Mars rover
  • lunar rover
  • drive a rover
  • rover team
  • rover's wheels
  • landerA spacecraft designed to land on the surface of a planet, moon, asteroid or comet and usually stay in one place to make measurements.
  • missionA planned flight or project in space with a specific goal, such as sending a probe to Mars or taking a crew to a space station.
  • space probeA robotic spacecraft without a crew that is sent to study planets, moons, comets or deep space and sends its data back to Earth.
  • mission controlThe team and the room on the ground that monitor a spaceflight, talk to the crew or spacecraft and make decisions during the mission.

More terms: Space Missions & Launches

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