Review: 42158 NASA Mars Perseverance Rover
Posted by Huw,
2023 has been a great year for Technic sets so far and 42158 NASA Mars Perseverance Rover looks to continue that trend, offering a unique and interesting model that should have broad appeal thanks to the enduing interest in space exploration.
I had initially dismissed it as 'yet another NASA model', of which we've been inundated in recent years, but it's far from it: it's highly functional, and educational too.
Summary
42158 NASA Mars Rover Perseverance, 1,132 pieces.
£84.99 / $99.99 / €94.99 | 7.5p / 8.8c / 8.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An outstanding and educational model of a unique and interesting vehicle
- Implementation of rocker bogies is excellent
- Great fun to be had testing its capabilities
- Arm movement requires manual intervention
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
New parts and stickers
Two modest sticker sheets are provided, one of which is silver printed with gold ink.
The only new parts in the set are the wheels, which are of course of a design unique to the rover. They manufactured from hard plastic, dual-moulded in black and silver, and look excellent.
The only significant recolour I noticed is the large turntable top, which is usually black but is appearing here for the first time in white.
The completed model
The 6-wheeled rover is about 32cm long and 15cm wide, and unlike any Technic set that's gone before. It appears to be very accurate to the real vehicle, about which you can read on the NASA website.
Everything relevant has been incorporated into the model, such as the multitude of cameras, sensors and other instrumentation, the power source at the back, the robotic arm, and of course the wheels and legs -- the rocker bogies -- which are the highlight of it.
In addition to the rover, a drone -- named Ingenuity, I'm told -- is also provided, equipped with a stickered solar panel on the top and some sort of sensor below, which is a 2x2 brick and tile covered with gold stickers. It's a shame they are not drum lacquered gold pieces.
Operation
The main thing to play with is the steering and driving it over rough terrain. A lever on the top has two functions. Moving it backwards causes the front and rear wheels turn inwards to allow the rover to move on the spot in a circle. Moving it forwards and turning the gear steers the rover. It's an extremely clever mechanism and to be honest, despite examining it for some time, I still can't get my head around it!
Note the printed 1x1 round tiles here and elsewhere that pinpoint various parts of the rover.
Here the wheels are in a position to enable the rover to turn on the spot.
In this position the rover will turn left.
The linkage between the sections of the rocker bogie is very clever indeed, and it's worth reading the NASA website to understand how it works. It's been implemented very well here and a lot of fun can be had traversing uneven terrain and seeing just how capable it is.
It's actually quite hard to find an obstacle that it can't overcome while keeping all six wheels on the ground.
The rover can strike some impressive poses!
The only other operation concerns the robotic arm at the front. Controls for this poke out the back of the power source, from where the arm can be rotated outwards from its home position, as shown in the photos above, and raised and lowered.
The arm has articulation along its length as well, but unfortunately that has to be adjusted manually.
The sensor array sticking up above the body can be hinged downwards for when not in use, although that involves half removing a pin to do so.
Construction
As this is unlike any other Technic model, construction is a bit different as well. There's more asymmetry than usual, so it's less repetitive. The mechanism that operates the steering can be seen in the centre, and other than that and some gearing around the arm mounting, there is little in the way of complexity within it.
The angled section at the back, the rover's power source, is just about the only part of the model where the designer has had to resort to using System parts to recreate.
The most impressive part of the vehicle is undoubtedly the rocker bogies which have been modelled to perfection, both in terms of looks and functionality.
Verdict
'Not another NASA set' I yawned when I first saw pictures of this, but how wrong I was. It's an exceptional model that is interesting to build, fun to play with, and also educational. The rocker bogie mechanism is wonderful, and I had no idea how it worked before building this, which also prompted me to read about the rover on the NASA website.
The operation of the arm seems a bit half-hearted, and it might have been better had it all just been implemented using click hinges rather than the hybrid arrangement that we have now, although I concede that that would not be very Technic-like.
Other than that it's hard to fault. One of the best Technic sets this year and a very welcome change from the usual fare of supercars and plant. Highly recommended.
The 1,132-piece set costs £84.99 / $99.99 / €94.99 and will be available at LEGO.com from June 1st.
148 likes
49 comments on this article
""In addition to the rover, a drone is also provided""
Hey, Ingenuity has a name, you know
@magmafrost said:
"Hey, Ingenuity has a name, you know"
Thank you. I told you this was an educational model, I'm still learning things about it :)
@magmafrost said:
[[[["In addition to the rover, a drone is also provided"]]
Hey, Ingenuity has a name, you know]]
And how awesome is it to see it fly about on Mars! And it's still going after all this time, when it was basically only designed to be a test bed :)
Great review, great set! Happy to see something we haven't really seen before, with unique and mostly well implemented functions.
Maybe the arm could have been done better, but I guess it would quickly become too bulky. I don't like stickers, but I feel most aren't that necessarily, it won't look unfinished without them. Having seen some other reviews, I do wonder if the wheels couldn't have been done with a more rubbery material instead of the hard plastic.
But in the end these are just minor niggles, there's more than enough good stuff to compensate for that. Even the price seems quite reasonable, but I'm still Dutch enough to wait for the 20-30% discount it inevitably is gonna get :-)
I have all the other rovers, this will be a day 1 purchase for me as well.
Can you guess how hard it might be to motorize the arm and/or the wheels?
If only those 3L pins would all be recolored to grey, black or white for this set...
I'm still fighting with myself if the JD Skidder or the Perseverance rover deserves the price for best Technic set 2023. Pneumatics was my childhood favourite but NASA related LEGO sets are so rare especially in Technic, that I think the rover will win. Besides, it costs under 100$ which is just as rare these days.
@Huw did you get a chance to try out the augmented reality app for this set?
I think the weird 1x1 round tiles are to help the app track the rover, rather than to highlight the location of functions.
As a huge fan of the old technic Mars Exploration Rover 7471, I can't wait to buy this beautiful set!
I loved 7471 that my dad bought me after a surgery! Reminds me a lot of it!
@NathanR2015 said:
" @Huw did you get a chance to try out the augmented reality app for this set?
I think the weird 1x1 round tiles are to help the app track the rover, rather than to highlight the location of functions."
No, but thanks for the reminder. I downloaded it last week but it hadn't been updated with this model. I've just checked and it has now, so I'll do a follow-up article in the next few days.
I presumed the 'target patterns' are present on the real vehicle, but I may be mistaken.
Damnit, Jim! I'm a doctor not a robot!
Ugh, this is too cool! Looks like I'm going to have to get my second Technic set ever! Sigh.
Is this not the return of the Flex system?
@magmafrost said:
[[[["In addition to the rover, a drone is also provided"]]
Hey, Ingenuity has a name, you know]]
If I don’t see that line on a car advertisement I’ll eat my hat!
It looks great, and could become the first technic set I buy in over 30 years.
Those round tiles look like survey control points so I’d be very surprised if they aren’t linked to the AR app.
@Huw said:
" @NathanR2015 said:
" @Huw did you get a chance to try out the augmented reality app for this set?
I think the weird 1x1 round tiles are to help the app track the rover, rather than to highlight the location of functions."
No, but thanks for the reminder. I downloaded it last week but it hadn't been updated with this model. I've just checked and it has now, so I'll do a follow-up article in the next few days.
I presumed the 'target patterns' are present on the real vehicle, but I may be mistaken.
"
The real rover does have several 'fiducial patterns' (is the technical term) -- markers for onboard cameras to spot and calibrate against as parts move, and also to be known references for tracking things like dust coverage and other environmental changes. https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/50275/why-are-there-different-types-of-fiducial-markers-on-perseverance
Also, the stickered box hanging below the Ingenuity helicopter is actually its main body, containing the flight computer and radio, batteries, cameras, and laser altimeter. The LEGO model exaggerates the proportions of the helicopter because of the minimum part size (especially the frame with the legs), but the real thing is quite spindly!
in before the "why get this when you can get the real thing?" crowd
Great review, has TLG started pre-yellowing their whites?
@slvrlksrfr said:
"Great review, has TLG started pre-yellowing their whites?"
The camera white balance is spot-on, I made sure of it. White pieces are slightly yellow. For some reason the colour was not cleaned up when the greys were in 2004.
The real question is this: why would a set licensed from a NASA set release in the USA two months behind the rest of the world??? Seems like an oversight...
@Lance_McCormick said:
"in before the "why get this when you can get the real thing?" crowd"
Working on it, flights to Mars ain't cheap.
For those of you who were debating the merits of a Lego model versus the "real thing" on the Pac-Man comments this morning, the cost of the actual NASA Perseverance is approx. $2.7bn, so in this instance, as a display piece, the Lego version is definitely the way to go! :-)
First Technic set in a while I’ve actually been excited for, so I’m bummed it doesn’t show up here for 2 more months :(
@Yorick said:
"The real question is this: why would a set licensed from a NASA set release in the USA two months behind the rest of the world??? Seems like an oversight..."
I believe the reason for a different release date in NA for many of the retail lines is because retailers typically do their stockkeeping in the summer and they don't want the arrival of new stock to complicate it.
I don't think those wheels are dual-molded, which usually means two colours in one mold. Looks to me two parts fused together.
Definitely looks interesting, especially that steering mechanism.
@Huw Racingbrick commented that there's fair bit of play in the steering and while you can pose the rover on very uneven terrain, it's not easy to (play-)run it over obstacles. Did you find that as well?
It’s a fantastic-looking set, and one I’ll likely get. If so, it’ll be the largest Technic set I’ll have gotten in a long time.
All the weird “yet another NASA model” comments peppering the review are a bit off-putting, I have to say.
@Duq said:
"I don't think those wheels are dual-molded, which usually means two colours in one mold. Looks to me two parts fused together."
Yes they could be, it's hard to tell. The separation is very clean so you are probably right.
"Racingbrick commented that there's fair bit of play in the steering and while you can pose the rover on very uneven terrain, it's not easy to (play-)run it over obstacles. Did you find that as well?"
Yes there is play in the steering and yes it would be hard to roll over rough terrain for real given the hard material of the wheels provides no grip, but that did not spoil my enjoyment of it.
The real rover travels at a max speed of 0.1mph and can drive over rocks that are 4/5ths the height of the wheel, so any realistic play should be within those boundaries :-)
I know it's 'technic'ally not from the Technic theme, but the repeated talk about 'unlike any technic model that has gone before' makes it sound like 7471 never existed. And I know it's not specifically Curiosity either, but the set is still like something technic that has gone before.
Sorry if that sounded a bit pendantic but the Discovery theme deserves more love :)
Anyway, a fun set. The only super function of note seems to be the suspension/steering, (as the arm is only partially gear-driven) but they delivered it well!
And anything less car-like is always welcome. It's been years since the last robot directly in the Technic theme. Now, how about a full on humanoid-ish robot...
Oh, and that white color though. Yuck. Does that happen more often in today's sets or is this an outlier?
"yet another NASA model" sounds like there are enough NASA models?
@GBP_Chris said:
" @Lance_McCormick said:
"in before the "why get this when you can get the real thing?" crowd"
Working on it, flights to Mars ain't cheap."
@8lackmagic said:
"For those of you who were debating the merits of a Lego model versus the "real thing" on the Pac-Man comments this morning, the cost of the actual NASA Perseverance is approx. $2.7bn, so in this instance, as a display piece, the Lego version is definitely the way to go! :-)"
Let’s crash our own rover into Perseverance in a bogus accident and then claim against insurance… I’m so clever :~D
@8lackmagic said:
"For those of you who were debating the merits of a Lego model versus the "real thing" on the Pac-Man comments this morning, the cost of the actual NASA Perseverance is approx. $2.7bn, so in this instance, as a display piece, the Lego version is definitely the way to go! :-)"
The other part of my joke earlier was that the actual rover is significantly larger than the LEGO model, so the video game comparisons are much less apt.
The exposed Technic pieces on a set like this don't detract from the set like they might on other sets.
This just might be the first Technic set I'll have bought in years.
This looks like an early purchase for sure - maybe even day 1! That rocker bogie suspension is a thing of beauty, it's actually somewhat surprising that Technic hasn't done something like this before! It's also really quite reasonably priced, which is a rarity these days. Looking forward to it!
"One of the best Technic sets this year and a very welcome change from the usual fare of supercars and plant."
Does "...and plant" imply the Botanical line should be classified as Technic sets?
@tkatt said:
""One of the best Technic sets this year and a very welcome change from the usual fare of supercars and plant."
Does "...and plant" imply the Botanical line should be classified as Technic sets? "
No, it means you don't understand the British English meaning of plant :-)
@Huw said:
" @slvrlksrfr said:
"Great review, has TLG started pre-yellowing their whites?"
The camera white balance is spot-on, I made sure of it. White pieces are slightly yellow. For some reason the colour was not cleaned up when the greys were in 2004."
If I remember well Jake McKee's words on LugNet, White was to be next. But alas it wasn't.
@Huw:
Natural ABS is slightly translucent, and about halfway between LEGO white and LEGO tan in color. It takes a _LOT_ of white to overpower the base color, to the point that it would probably make the pieces prone to breaking...like what has been known to happen with a few of the really saturated colors. Other than switching to a different type of plastic, I'm not sure how you'd change that.
@Huw said:
" @tkatt said:
""One of the best Technic sets this year and a very welcome change from the usual fare of supercars and plant."
Does "...and plant" imply the Botanical line should be classified as Technic sets? "
No, it means you don't understand the British English meaning of plant :-)"
At least you recognize the fact that British English is not standard English.
Definitely excited by this one. But fail to see how we are "inundated with" NASA sets
@BricksandBoosters said:
"Definitely excited by this one. But fail to see how we are "inundated with" NASA sets"
Can you not see it? They’re more common than asteroids in the asteroid belt!
@ineedabrick said:
" @Huw said:
" @slvrlksrfr said:
"Great review, has TLG started pre-yellowing their whites?"
The camera white balance is spot-on, I made sure of it. White pieces are slightly yellow. For some reason the colour was not cleaned up when the greys were in 2004."
If I remember well Jake McKee's words on LugNet, White was to be next. But alas it wasn't. "
Probably due to the backlash from the community follwing the change to the greys.
In hindsight it was the right thing to do, but it was not well received at the time!
@Huw - I have the impression white was perfectly fine until they changed to the in-mould coloring process around 2007. I noticed it first in 4956 House, about half the white pieces were fine while the rest had a slight translucence you'd normally associate with very cheap clone bricks. The difference is really prominent if you hold the pieces up to the light - the solid-colored ones barely lets through a faint reddish-brown light, while the translucent ones shines in a bright yellowish color.
Basically I suspect this translucence to make the white parts appear yellowish under some light conditions (and also possibly be the real reason Lego won't provide better lighting options?). It's easy to blame the coloring process itself, but I wonder if they've skimped on the pigment - to make a solid white color you need titanium oxide, if that's expensive it may be tempting to substitute some of it with cheaper chalk or similar stuff.
@axeleng , yes they are slightly translucent, and the yellow-y isn't normally as noticeable in my photos but I've recently changed my lighting and recalibrated the white balance of my camera, so it's spot-on now.
Before, it was very slightly blue, and I think it is in @CapnRex101 's photos too, because the white in his photos of the Arctic sets doesn't look yellow-y.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BricksandBoosters said:
"Definitely excited by this one. But fail to see how we are "inundated with" NASA sets"
Can you not see it? They’re more common than asteroids in the asteroid belt!"
Nope. 7 NASA sets in the brickset data base labeled NASA since 2017. One is a rerelease Saturn V because they retired it too soon. 4 of those are Ideas sets. There have been NASA inspired city sub themes every 4 years. (2015 5 sets, 2019 9 sets, and 2022 4 sets). But I would hardly call 25 sets in 6 years excessive. There have been more dragons than that in the last 3 years! I will admit I am a big space fan, also a dragon fan, why I used it as an example. I can see how to a non spaceflight fan it seems a bit much, but inundated is hyperbole at best.
I'm very glad to see new subject matter entering the technic line.
@axeleng:
I noticed this issue with 70904, when it was one of the few sets selected for early December release. I bought a few copies from different stores, and noticed some differences in the parts I got out of different copies. In one, the parts were dark when backlit, the 1x1 round plates had good clutch, and the 2x2 round plates _always_ had the pip on the same stud. In the other copies, the parts were very translucent when backlit, the 1x1 round plates had weak clutch (enough so that I pulled all of these out and bagged them separately so I wouldn’t accidentally use them), and the pips on the 2x2 round plates were close to evenly split between L/R. There was a different batch code on the boxes, and my conclusion was that each batch must have come from a different factory. The fact that I constantly see Europeans complaining about some of these issues while Americans and Canadians are left scratching our heads makes me suspect the translucent batch used parts sourced from Europe, and the “darker” parts might be from Mexico. This is really the only explanation I can think of for why this problem seems far more common to European consumers.
@BricksandBoosters:
That was meant to be a joke. You mention the asteroid belt and people immediately think of what Han had to fly through in Ep5, but the reality is that you could fly through our solar system’s asteroid belt and never see one because they’re spread so far apart. Compared to the inner and outer planet rings, it’s packed with asteroids, but anything like what Empire showed should have formed at least one planet. So, in contrast, NASA-themed sets are technically far more common.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BricksandBoosters:
That was meant to be a joke. You mention the asteroid belt and people immediately think of what Han had to fly through in Ep5, but the reality is that you could fly through our solar system’s asteroid belt and never see one because they’re spread so far apart. Compared to the inner and outer planet rings, it’s packed with asteroids, but anything like what Empire showed should have formed at least one planet. So, in contrast, NASA-themed sets are technically far more common."
I thought it might be sarcasm but was a 50/50 shot so I found data. EpV is the asteroid belts PR firm worst night mare. :)
@BricksandBoosters:
Yes to the first part, no to the second. Cut the moon in thirty-thirds. Throw 32 pieces in the recycle bin. Smash the remaining piece into smaller pieces, even down to the size of sand. Scatter everything in the gap between Mars and Jupiter, and you’ve got the asteroid belt. I don’t think we’ve had a single space probe get hit by one, since the start of the Space Race. They do run into each other sometimes, but they’re 600,000 miles from their nearest neighbor, on average. To put that into perspective, it took the crew of Apollo 11 eight days to travel around 500,000 miles, round trip from launch to splashdown.
In terms of PR, yeah, nobody will want to move there for fear of dying every time they go to the bathroom. Or come back from the bathroom. Or sneeze. Or don’t sneeze. And tourists will demand their money back after what would be the most overhyped show in the solar system.
@picopirate:
Lots of sets get staggered summer releases like that. US retailers don’t want all the new product shipping right when kids are going to start into two months of anything but playing indoors, so us adults have to wait until August as well (or pay through the nose for imported product).
@Huw said:
" The real rover travels at a max speed of 0.1mph and can drive over rocks that are 4/5ths the height of the wheel, so any realistic play should be within those boundaries :-)"
And any realistic play needs to simulate gravity about one-third of ours!
@Huw said:
" I presumed the 'target patterns' are present on the real vehicle, but I may be mistaken."
They are indeed, as are clearly seen in photos such as this one: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fbf3667dc-776b-11eb-9d58-b0b1ea096ce7.jpg . Looks like a great set!