Spacecraft: Surface Operations: Rover

The rover´s "body"

The rover body is called the warm electronics box, or "WEB" for short. Like a car body, the rover body is a strong, outer layer that protects the rover´s computer, electronics, and batteries (which are basically the equivalent of the rover´s brains and heart). The rover body thus keeps the rover´s vital organs protected and temperature-controlled.

The warm electronics box is closed on the top by a triangular piece called the Rover Equipment Deck (RED). The Rover Equipment Deck makes the rover like a convertible car, allowing a place for the rover mast and cameras to sit out in the Martian air, taking pictures and clearly observing the Martian terrain as it travels.

The gold-painted, insulated walls of the rover body also keep heat in when the night temperatures on Mars can drop to -96 degrees Celsius (-140 degrees Fahrenheit). [More on the rovers'  temperature controls]