Video narration
How do you drive a Mars rover with a joystick when Mars is millions of kilometres away? A remote-control car responds instantly. On Mars, communication delay-the time signals take to cross-makes live steering impractical. It changes as the planets move. The rover is not being steered live. The team sends a batch of instructions-a command sequence-then waits. Those instructions cross the gap, and the rover carries out the plan: driving or taking measurements. It uses onboard autonomy, meaning it can handle limited local decisions while following instructions-not choosing the mission. Then images and data return to Earth. Teams check what happened, waiting for images before approving the next move. The loop is plan, send, wait, check, then plan again. So how do you drive it? By sending planned commands, waiting for the rover's data, and using it to plan again-not by live remote control.