Space travel and exploration is something that will never fail to fascinate humans, regardless if NASA discontinued their space program. And if you're one of those who are pretty much interested in that kind of thing, getting to design your own space rover would be a dream come true. You can actually do that now with a new Android game, even if it's just virtual.
Rugged Rover is actually brought to you by the folks from the Science Museum in South Kensington in England, so you know there's a degree of legitimacy to it. The premise is simple enough in that you get to design your very own all-terrain space rover and it comes complete with all the drawing and designing tools you'll need, including movable motors and resizable wheels. It will also give you tips on how to solve several rover-related problems. Even neater, you get to see the designs of Abbie Hutty, the real-life designer of the Mars rover.
But what makes this game even more exciting is that you get to test out your designed rover on a Mars-inspired spacescape. You'll get to see if the jet hover and speed boost you put in can actually survive that kind of terrain and the obstacles that come along with it. And when it fails, as it will eventually of course, you get to go back to the literal drawing board and fix your design so it will perform better when you test it again.
While you can play the game on your mobile device, the museum also issues an invitation to visit them and play it on their big screen with your friends. If you can go to the UK, then that should be a stop on your itinerary. Rugged Rovers is available to download for free from the Google Play Store, and no in-app purchases are needed.