The martian landscape is not the easiest terrain to get around. Some areas are too rocky for a wheeled rover to cross, and elsewhere a lack of distinctive features in the landscape can cause problems for a camera-based navigation system. For a flying drone, such a navigation issue can mean the difference between a safe landing and a crash. Dielof van Loon, a student from Delft University of Technology, investigated what would happen if the two explorers – rover and drone – teamed up.

In this test run, Dielof’s drone flies three metres above a platform simulating a rover, moves in a figure eight in the air above, and lands again – the whole time attached with a tether to the platform.

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