A balloon high above a surface rover tethered to a
drag-chute just below has enough energy from the
wind to pull a rover on Mars for hundreds of kilometers.
All the semi-autonomous rovers sent to Mars planned
for the future are restricted by the places they can
land, by the terrain they can climb, by the slope of
the surface, by the obstacles they may encounter and
in the amount of space they can travel in. Yet simply
by using the wind to sail across its surface a rover on
Mars can go where no rovers could ever go before
and much further than can be imagined. Some terrestrial
tests on this new device we call the Martian Windsurfer
were performed by using several different methods
listed below. By tapping into the wind energy by using
the natural force from the wind on the atmospheric-rich
worlds of Mars, Venus and Titan we can sail across its
surface with minimal amount of resources and cost. 

The wind in the thin Martian atmosphere is dense enough
to push a Martian Windsurfer, thereby driving a rover on
its surface, for hundreds of kilometers. 

See original paper: Using Wind Energy to Pull a Surface
Rover on Mars, or Titan

The Martian Windsurfer Animation - YouTube

 published in the book

"On TO MARS 2 - Exploring Another World"

in CD format By "Frank Crossman and Dr. Robert Zubrin" Updated 2006 release of above published paper

Results of Design and Testing Using Wind Energy to Pull a Surface Rover on Mars, or Titan

See images from below that are from the abstract presented at the 2003 Mars Society Conference.

Movie of the Martian Windsurfer rover climbing a steep rocky hill QuickTime 2.59 MB

Movie of the Martian Windsurfer rover with Jibe sail attached QuickTime 2.59 MB

Movie of the Martian Windsurfer rover pulling a tethered balloon and dragchute QuickTime 3.73 MB

Movie of Martian Windsurfer climbing a steep rocky hill QuickTime 3.71 MB

Animation / Presentation at 2005 Mars Society Conference PDF approximately 7.7 MB

Theater Quality Video From Mars.pdf

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