About Mars Rover Run
Mars Rover Run is a free, browser-based side-scrolling platformer set on a fantastical version of the Red Planet. You pilot a Mars rover across rocky Martian terrain, leaping over crater pits, stomping skittering rock crabs and whirling dust devils, and collecting glowing rock samples. Gather five samples and your rover powers up into an armored form that can shrug off a hit. Reach the beacon at the end of the level to bank your score, and try to beat your personal best.
The game runs entirely in your browser with nothing to download, works on both desktop and mobile, and is drawn frame-by-frame in code - no downloads, no sign-up, just play. It is built in the same spirit as our Apollo 13 mission game: a quick, fun way to explore space themes.
How to Play
Use the arrow keys or A and D to drive left and right, and the Up arrow, W, or the spacebar to jump - on a phone or tablet, use the on-screen buttons. Mars has about 38 percent of Earth’s surface gravity, so the rover’s jumps are high and floaty, giving the game its distinctive low-gravity feel. Time your jumps to land on top of enemies and crack them apart; touching them from the side costs you. Watch the skies, too: when a dust storm warning flashes, sprint to a boulder and tuck into its shelter before the wind hits, or the blowing grit will damage your rover.
Real Mars Rovers
The game is pure fantasy - real Mars has no rock crabs - but it is inspired by the remarkable robots NASA has actually sent to Mars. Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance have spent years crawling across the Martian surface, drilling rocks, analyzing soil, and hunting for signs that the planet was once habitable. Real rovers move only a few centimeters per second and really do collect rock and soil samples - Perseverance is caching tubes of Martian rock for a future mission to bring home to Earth. And dust storms are a genuine hazard: a planet-wide storm in 2018 blotted out the Sun and ended the long-lived Opportunity rover’s mission.
Curious about the real night sky and the worlds beyond Mars? Explore the rest of Solar Ruler: track the live Moon phase, check solar weather, see what is visible on the Tonight’s Sky page, or play our Apollo 13 game.