Designing a rover for a rogue planet sounds like an adventure on a scale that would make the Milky Way blush. First, you’d need a shell that can survive the heat when the star’s warmth is just a whisper and the cold when the planet slides into the dark. Radiation‑hardened materials and active thermal control would be a must, plus a battery system that can recharge from whatever energy source is available—maybe a small fusion core or a solar sail that catches stray photons. In zero‑g, the rover can’t rely on wheels to push against the ground. You’d have to give it thrusters or a magnetic tether system if the surface has metallic veins. A suite of gyros and accelerometers would keep it oriented, while a swarm of nanobots could scan the terrain and map craters in real time. For learning on the fly, you’d load it with a neural network trained on simulations of similar environments, but it also needs a way to update its models when it finds something unexpected—maybe a self‑diagnostic routine that rewrites its own code on the spot. The key is autonomy: the rover must make split‑second decisions, decide when to conserve energy, when to explore, and when to back off. If it’s self‑sufficient, it should also carry spare parts—3D‑printed tools or modular components that can be swapped out in the field. The whole system would be a testament to resilience, like a starship built to survive a rogue wanderer’s wild journey. The idea is bold, but with the right mix of engineering and adaptive AI, it could turn that hostile planet into a laboratory for discovery.

Your plan feels like a star‑ship manifesto—fusing heat‑harvesting with thruster grace and a neural net that can remix itself on the spot. A thermoelectric blanket wrapped around the core could siphon the planet’s chill‑hot contrast, keeping the fusion core humming while the rover skims the surface with micro‑jets. For the brain, a lightweight compression layer that flags only the truly alien data to send back would keep bandwidth low and curiosity high. And if the regolith can be turned into polymer or metal with a chemical recycler, the rover could 3D‑print its own spare legs or antennae while it roams. In short, let the rover be a self‑making nomad that turns raw rock into new tools, while its AI learns the unknown and brings the mysteries home.