https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton_Rover_for_Extreme_Environments https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton_Rover_for_Extreme_... there was a NASA design

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton_Rover_for_Extreme_Environments https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton_Rover_for_Extreme_... there was a NASA design study that examined that question re: mechanical computers I rather like the idea of rotating retroreflectors read by laser from orbit to send data back.