Before the first human went to space, artists and writers envisioned what traveling on other planets would look like. Rovers was a common idea for travel given the growing popularity of automobiles. In 1901, Polish science fiction writer, Jerszy Wulawski, came up with a modular design that could overcome any terrain.

While NASA did not utilize Wulawski’s fanciful design, both NASA and Wulawski understood that the rover needed to be powered by electric motors and batteries.