Inside NASAs New Mars Rover Concept Vehicle

The Parker Brothers seem to have a knack for designing the most ridiculous futuristic vehicles and having them brought to life, either through their own hard work and talent or on the silver screen via Hollywood. The brothers, best known for designing what most of us would refer to as “the Tron cycles” – the hyper-modern motorcycles from the Sci-Fi flick Tron – have had a few other designs come to life and make quite a buzz in the car world.

Now the Brothers Parker have teamed up with NASA to design and build an over-the-top, but functional Mars Rover concept that just may very well be the basis for the first manned vehicle to set tire on the red planet. Their concept, which undeniably looks like something straight out of a blockbuster space movie, may not quite be fully functional as far as what NASA needs for its martian explorers, its definitely a close enough mock-up to be the basis for what the agency does actually send to Mars in the future.

While we don’t know what the rover uses for power – lithium batteries seem like the most likely candidate – we do know that everything on the platform was built in-house by the Parkers. From the body itself to the wheels and even the seats were all hand-built by the PBC crew. You can see both inside and out that, while the design screams Science Fiction, it also carries a heir of viability as a vehicle to explore our nearest planetary neighbor.

NASA believes that the first people to be sent up to the red planet are currently between the ages of 8 and 18, meaning the focus on the goal of martian exploration is still very much alive within the agency. We will just have to wait and see what the actual Mars rover looks like when it comes time to head up, but I’d be willing to be it’s remarkably similar to this one.