Wind driven rovers show promise for low cost Mars missions

Wind driven rovers show promise for low cost Mars missions
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 26, 2025

Recent tests suggest that swarms of spherical tumbleweed rovers could offer an affordable and efficient way to explore Mars. Experiments conducted in a wind tunnel and on natural terrain show that the wind powered design can move across a range of surfaces under Mars like conditions.

The five metre wide rovers are designed to roll with martian winds, dispersing across the surface to collect simultaneous data on the planet's atmosphere and terrain. In their final phase, the robots would collapse into stationary research posts, supporting both long term science and future mission infrastructure.

"Recent wind tunnel and field campaigns have been a turning point in the Tumbleweed rover's development," said James Kingsnorth, Head of Science at Team Tumbleweed. "We now have experimental validation that Tumbleweed rovers could indeed operate and collect scientific data on Mars."

Scaled prototypes tested at Aarhus University's Planetary Environment Facility confirmed that wind speeds of 9-10 metres per second could move the rovers over sand, pebbles and rocks. The rovers also managed slopes equivalent to 30 degrees on Mars, while onboard sensors gathered data during movement consistent with predictive modelling.

"Experiments with the prototypes in the Aarhus Wind Tunnel have provided big insights into how Tumbleweed rovers would operate on Mars," said Ma'rio Joa~o Carvalho de Pinto Balsema~o, Team Tumbleweed's Mission Scientist. He added that lighter flight ready designs should require even less wind to set them rolling.

Insight mission data show that Mars winds often exceed 10 metres per second, especially during the northern hemisphere summer, suggesting conditions are suitable for rover mobility. Based on simulations, a rover could travel around 422 kilometres in 100 sols, with a potential maximum of 2,800 kilometres.

A larger 2.7 metre testbed rover carried out quarry trials in the Netherlands, successfully recording real time environmental data using off the shelf instruments. Team Tumbleweed, a young international group based in Austria and the Netherlands, plans further upgrades and field campaigns, including a November test in Chile's Atacama Desert using multiple rovers with advanced sensors and swarm coordination.