Lego’s Mars Rover Perseverance has 360-degree steering and a swinging arm

Lego’s last Mars Rover was a little simplistic (pdf) — so I’m glad to see that the new Lego Technic NASA Mars Rover Perseverance, just announced today for $100, puts some of the real rover’s engineering front and center.

With the flick of a lever, the rover’s iconic six-wheel suspension spins a set of ball-tipped gears — to turn four of its wheels inward so you can spin the entire craft 360-degrees. You can switch back and forth between that 360-degree mode and a normal driving mode, much like you can see in the NASA JPL video here.

There’s also pair of additional dials on the back to move the sample arm up, down, left and right for play.

And, there’s an AR app if you’d like to pretend you’re collecting rock samples. Lego says it’ll also include “exciting, educational content getting to know the real-life vehicle and its mission on Mars,” as well as a way to view the local weather on the Red Planet.

It’s not clear from the company’s press release if this set will be compatible with Lego’s motors to do any autonomous moving or steering, but Percy does come with a tiny Mars Ingenuity helicopter, too.

Lego says the 1,132-piece set will ship June 1st. Here are a few more pics to tide you over.