Lego’s last Mars Rover was a little simplistic (pdf) — so I’m glad to see that the new Lego Technic NASA Mars Rover Perseverance, just announced today for $100, puts more of the real rover’s engineering front and center.
Lego’s Mars Rover Perseverance has 360-degree steering and a swinging arm
Lego Technic recreates the coolest part of the rover.
Lego Technic recreates the coolest part of the rover.
Image: Lego
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
With the flick of a lever, the rover’s iconic six-wheel suspension spins a set of ball-tipped gears — to turn four of its wheels inward so you can spin the entire craft 360-degrees. You can switch back and forth between that 360-degree mode and a normal driving mode, much like you can see in the NASA JPL video here:
There’s also pair of additional dials on the back to move the sample arm up, down, left and right for play. It’s a fairly large set, at 9 inches high, 9 inches wide, and 12.5 inches long.
And, there’s an AR app if you’d like to pretend you’re collecting rock samples. Lego says it’ll also include “exciting, educational content getting to know the real-life vehicle and its mission on Mars,” as well as a way to view the local weather on the Red Planet.
Image: Lego
It’s not clear from the company’s press release if this set will be compatible with Lego’s motors to do any autonomous moving or steering, but Percy does come with a tiny Mars Ingenuity helicopter, too.
Lego says the 1,132-piece set will ship June 1st, except weirdly in the United States and possibly Canada where it’ll ship August 1st instead. Here are a few more pictures to tide you over.
Update, 12:49AM ET: Lego now says it will ship August 1st in the United States. It originally told us June, and that’s correct for other regions but strangely not here.
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