NASA is testing a rover that can drive faster and lift its wheels to climb obstacles

At a glance:

• Ernest reached a top speed of about 0.6 mph during desert trials
• The prototype can individually lift each of its four wheels to step over obstacles
• Over seven days the rover logged more than 37 hours of driving, covering roughly 16 miles in the Colorado Desert

What the Ernest rover is

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory unveiled the Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain, nicknamed Ernest, as a next‑generation platform for future Mars and lunar missions. Unlike the current fleet, which relies on a six‑wheel rocker‑bogie suspension, Ernest has only four wheels, each capable of being lifted and articulated independently. The prototype shown in testing is four feet long, but engineers say an operational version would be roughly twice that size, giving it a larger footprint for stability on steep or uneven ground.

The rover’s active suspension is built around two powered front joints that act like a gimbal, allowing it to adopt a variety of locomotion “gaits” – from traditional rolling to squirm‑like motions, wheel‑walking, and obstacle‑climbing. This flexibility lets the vehicle negotiate rocks, sand dunes and sharp inclines that would force existing rovers onto long detours.

Desert testing results

The latest Ernest iteration spent a week in the Colorado Desert, a Mars‑analog environment chosen for its rugged terrain and temperature swings. During the seven‑day window the rover accumulated over 37 hours of drive time and covered approximately 16 miles. Its recorded peak speed was about 0.6 mph, a six‑fold increase over Perseverance’s sub‑0.1 mph capability on flat ground.

James Keane, a JPL planetary scientist who works on lunar missions, highlighted the practical impact: “You could do a science road trip across the Moon — or Mars — with this vehicle.” The tests also demonstrated that Ernest can switch seamlessly between active and passive suspension modes, conserving energy when full articulation isn’t required while still offering the agility needed for hazardous sections.

How Ernest differs from legacy rovers

Traditional Mars rovers such as Perseverance and the historic Sojourner depend on a passive rocker‑bogie system that keeps weight evenly distributed but cannot actively reposition wheels. Ernest’s design adds four steerable wheels that can rotate 360 degrees, granting true omnidirectional movement. Moreover, the prototype incorporates “enhanced independent decision‑making capabilities,” meaning it can autonomously select the most efficient gait for a given terrain segment, reducing the need for constant commands from Earth.

Since the program’s inception in 2022, the team has iterated through nearly a dozen active‑suspension configurations, refining the balance between mechanical complexity and power consumption. The ultimate goal is a rover that can cover more ground faster, opening up larger scientific footprints while keeping mission timelines and communication delays manageable.

Looking ahead

If the technology matures as expected, future missions could deploy larger, double‑sized Ernest‑derived rovers that traverse previously inaccessible valleys, crater walls, and polar ice caps. Such capability would expand the range of sample‑collection sites and increase the scientific return of both Mars and lunar expeditions. NASA plans to continue field trials in varied analog sites and to integrate the active‑suspension system into its next round of mission concepts, potentially reshaping how humanity explores other worlds.