When NASA wants to control the Mars Rover, they boot up a video game that combines high-tech software, virtual reality, and 3D glasses.
This way, researchers can "walk" on Mars through virtual reality images, marking the waypoints of their path, and uploading the maps they make.
From there, the Mars Curiosity rover drives, takes photos, and picks up surface samples - essentially reproducing the driver's virtual movements on the real-life surface of Mars.
The technology is a solution to NASA's problem of distance. Mars is more than 100 miles away, so it takes around 30 minutes for the signals to get there and back to Earth. Plotting the Rover's course with virtual reality prevents a $2.5 billion device from falling off an unseen ledge.
During a recent tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, spokesperson Mark Razze explained more on how the entire process works.
It starts with JPL's Deep Space Network, a platform of antennas it has stationed in Goldstone, California, Madrid, Spain, and Canberra, Australia. Placing dishes around the Earth allows scientists to "talk" with its robotic spacecraft 24 hours a day.
They developed the Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP) for the first rover sent to Mars in 1997, giving drivers an incredibly detailed 3D map of the Martian surface. All this imagery produces a spitting image of what an astronaut would see if he or she were standing on Mars.
The maps have only gotten better, especially with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft sending back plenty of photos.
For the most part, all drivers have to do is look around and plan a route.
While Curiosity probably won't be driving off any cliffs, it could still get stuck or run into some rocks the driver didn't see in the virtual world. Fortunately, Razze says it has hazard avoidance software built in.
This short video explains the concept a little further: