A rover is a robot that moves across a surface. Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021. Cameras and instruments let scientists study rocks and past environments without sending a person there. Mars is far away and its thin atmosphere is not breathable. Evidence for past water is not proof of life. Safety: Use a paper token, not a powered toy. No laser or chemical rock test. Stop: Stop when the three paper sites are logged. Do not operate remote devices or collect outdoor samples.

Materials: Paper; Pencil; Folded paper rover token 1. Draw a four-column, three-row map. Label columns A–D and rows 1–3. Put the rover at A2. Mark B2 as a steep hazard, B1 as a photo site, C1 as a rock site, and D1 as a layered-rock site. All squares are fictional and have no real distance scale. 2. Write these illustrative return cards: B1—camera shows rounded pebbles; C1—instrument finds a mineral that can form with water; D1—camera shows fine layers. These are practice clues, not actual mission measurements. 3. Plan moves between squares that share an edge, without entering B2. At each science site, record the command and the returned clue. Use photo, analyse, and compare as three commands. 4. Write a mission report naming Perseverance, Mars’s surface, two instrument jobs, and one reason to use a robot. Add a cautious water claim using two cards, then state what the cards cannot prove. Done: Finish a safe map route, three site records, and a report that separates observation from inference. Proof: Keep the route and report. Note if the adult chose the route, read the cards, or supplied the water inference. Stop: Stop when the three paper sites are logged. Do not operate remote devices or collect outdoor samples.