Mars Rover Sandwich

We visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and were enthralled by the fascinating insights into various space rovers. The wealth of knowledge at JPL left us inspired, igniting a burst of creativity when we returned home. My daughter made her own Mars Rover using her Robots in Motion building set, and I crafted a Mars Rover Sandwich for her.

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Subsequently, I decided to create a template on how to make a Mars Rover Sandwich. This is a picture from NASA, which has Rover parts. 

 My daughter was very excited to make her own sandwich herself using the template. These are the steps:

  1. Begin with Piece B as the base of the sandwich, where you can spread jam, place ham, cheese, avocado, or something of your choice. Ensure that the size of the topping placed on Piece B matches the size of Piece B.
  2. Place Piece A on top of Piece B, aligning them as indicated by the dotted line.
  3. Piece C is optional and is positioned on the top back of Piece A. Check the picture of the initial Mars Rover sandwich above for reference.
  4. Cut a small piece from the end of a pretzel stick and insert it into the right side of Piece D to create the SuperCam.
  5. Take a pretzel stick labeled with numbers 7-8. Insert one end into the middle of the bottom of Piece E, and the other end into Piece A on the left side (labeled 7).
  6. Combine two pretzel sticks labeled 9-10 and 10-11. The easiest way is to take a marshmallow and stick both of them on opposite sides of the marshmallow. Alternatively, melt some chocolate chips, dip both ends of the sticks, press them together, and place them on a piece of foil to cool.
  7. Take Piece D (the Spectrometer) and attach one end of the structure created in Step 6 to the center of Piece D, while the other end connects to the right side of Piece A (labeled 9).
  8. For Wheels, there are limitless creative opportunities. We discovered a type of pasta at Trader Joe’s that the kids call “wheels,” formally called “Rotelle.” You will need six of these “wheels.” Place them on the sides of Piece A, at positions 1-6. In a later Mars Rover Sandwich creation, we used sliced Persian cucumbers, and my daughter decided to have these wheels rotate on pretzel sticks.
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You can also enhance the presentation by adding “Mars soil” to the plate. In the first picture, we achieved this by boiling and mashing yams and then sprinkling brown sugar on the top.

Here is the picture of the Mars Rover Sandwich which my daughter made. (I only helped her with marshmallow junction and the SuperCam.)