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Mars rover
The Mars Rover is a type of unmanned spacecraft vehicle manufactured on Earth which is transported to and deployed on the planet Mars for remote observation and exploration. The Mars Rover Exploration Project is overseen by NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Because Mars is so far from Earth, robotic rovers make possible to answer questions about the planet.

Origins and History of the Rover
The use of "moon buggys" on planetary surface expeditions, have been accomplished since the Apollo moon-landings in the 1960s. Early versions used on the moon, were developed with input of government, military, and commercial industrial engineers and manufacturers including Chrysler and Boeing, and had the appearance of all-terrain vehicles such-as Jeeps and military tanks. These vehicles carried astronaut passengers. The machines were identified as a valuable component of space exploration and they proved to be a "reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle",according to Scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt. The Russian space program developed the unmanned robotic Lunokhod. and they sent a vehicle to investigate an area on Mars known as the "Face on Mars" which malfunctioned. The Mars Rover program with NASA continues to accomplish and expand goals.

Missions and highlights
As of 2014, there have been four successful Mars Rover missions. Sojourner, Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity. All of these 4 rovers, were named using suggestions of students. The US NASA maintains an extensive publicly available online archive and presentation of information related to the Mars Exploration Missions.

Scientific instruments are carried and utilized by the rovers: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/overview/, and according to NASA, some of the primary tools include a Panoramic Camera, Magnets: for collecting magnetic dust particles, which are then analyzed using other on-site instruments, a Microscopic Imager for close-up viewing, and a Rock Abrasion Tool used to find and collect material samples. Atmospheric and temperature sensing devices are continuously monitored as well.

Mars Rover in popular culture
The television comedy, The Big Bang Theory featured the Rover in several episodes. The Rover maintains accounts on Twitter,@MarsRovers, and @MarsCuriosity where news, updates and messages about the missions are posted online. The United States Postal Service depicted a rover on a stamp in 1971.

Future
In December of 2013, it was announced that a new Mars Rover will be assembled from spare-parts of the Curiosity Rover and it is scheduled to launch in 2020. A human settlement is a space-program goal that NASA says will be made possible with Robotic Spacecraft Paving the Way for Human Exploration of Mars.