A trick inspired by Hansel and Gretel could help rovers explore other worlds

Sensors dropped like bread crumbs would send back any data collected by waylaid spacecraft

An illustration of a rover exploring a lava tube with light streaming through the top

Autonomous rovers could one day deploy sensors while exploring treacherous terrain, such as lava tubes (illustrated), on other worlds. The sensors, enabled with Wi-Fi, would act like bread crumbs that allow any collected data to be passed back to a central rover.

John Fowler/Wikimedia Commons, Mark Tarbell and Wolfgang Fink/University of Arizona