In 2007, LEGO released the Mars Mission sub-theme for their Space line. One of the major gimmicks for that line was a series of pneumatic tubes that minifigures could travel through. This was accomplished by propelling them with a blast of air provided by a sub-theme-specific giant pump. Those pumps must now be sitting unused in collections around the world. Surely it’s too specific an item to make use of when you’re not constructing a tube-based travel system. “Not so fast,” says lokiloki29. This is the EOS-BA Discovery Rover, and it makes use of four of those pumps to create a set of over-sized wheels that look ready to tackle numerous alien terrains.
Considering the limited connection points that the pumps provide, this vehicle is an out of this world accomplishment. The vehicle contains a fully functioning interior, and even includes a mini vehicle that can deploy to travel through those smaller spaces the larger rover can’t quite handle. And, although it is crewed by a more traditional team of astronauts, I respect that the rover homages the Mars Mission sets with its pops of orange against the largely white color scheme.
