Last Updated: September 2026 | Nine in ten players who tried the ice mission went straight back for another go.
Mission Mars is a free Roblox game made by the Museum of Science in Boston. You build a Mars rover, drive it across the Red Planet, and run missions like finding water ice and rescuing stranded astronauts. The whole game is based on real NASA data. It is built to teach the way engineers actually work: try something, watch it fail, change it, try again.
This page has the badge numbers that show which missions players finish and which they give up on. It also covers the real Mars places you visit and why a museum game like this has no script and no codes.
Mission Mars Overview
| Made by |
The Museum of Science in Boston, built with the studio Filament Games |
| Released |
December 2022 |
| Visits |
Nearly 8 million |
| Favorites |
About 28,500 |
| Rating |
64 percent, from 6,097 votes |
| Server size |
Up to 24 per server |
| Based on |
Real NASA data about Mars |
| Genre |
Educational vehicle simulation set on Mars |
| Badges |
Twelve, and about 7 percent of players get the last one |
| Cost |
Free. No game passes and no purchases |
The Data Shows Players Actually Iterate
The game hands out badges for trying and retrying missions, and lining those up tells you something the museum was hoping for.
| Badge |
What you do for it |
People who have |
| Welcome, Engineer! |
Start the game |
1,401,604 |
| Tinkerer |
Try to build a vehicle in the hub |
1,334,448 |
| Arsia Mons Adventurer |
Reach the volcano region |
848,088 |
| Ramp Runner |
Attempt the Ramp Rescue mission |
487,137 |
| Ice Job! |
Try the Ice, Ice Maybe mission |
164,271 |
| Try, Try Again! |
Retry the Ice, Ice Maybe mission |
147,304 |
| Mission Madness |
Help with the missions three times |
94,572 |
Look at the two ice mission badges. About 164,000 players tried the Ice, Ice Maybe mission, and 147,000 of them went back and tried it again.
That is roughly nine in ten. The whole point of the game is to teach engineers to change their approach and retry. The badge counts show players doing exactly that.
The wider funnel is steeper. Around 1.4 million players started the game, and about 94,000 have the badge for helping with the missions three times. So roughly 7 percent stick around for the deeper content.
One caveat. The Welcome, Engineer! badge is close to an arrival badge but not exactly one. Read these as rough shares against nearly 8 million visits, not exact player percentages.
You Drive Around Real Places
The map is not made up. It uses NASA data, and two of the areas are named after real spots on Mars.
Arsia Mons is a real volcano in the Tharsis region of Mars, one of the largest in the solar system. In the game it is an open area you can explore, and about 848,000 players have reached it.
Planum Boreum is the real north polar plain of Mars, where the actual search for water ice takes place. That is where the Ice, Ice Maybe mission sends you.
The rover physics, the low gravity and the dust are all pulled from real measurements. So what you learn driving here lines up with how a real rover behaves.
It Is a Real Museum’s Game
The Museum of Science in Boston is a physical museum with millions of visitors a year. This is an official experience it commissioned, built with the studio Filament Games.
It was the first game to launch through the Roblox Community Fund, a pot of money Roblox set aside for educational projects.
The museum’s goal with it is to reach students who will never walk through its doors. That is why the whole thing is free and there is nothing to buy.
How to Play Mission Mars
- Start in the social hub and build a rover. Pick your wheels, body and instruments before you launch.
- Accept a mission from the board. Each one has a clear goal and a place on the map.
- Drive out and attempt it. Expect to fail the first run. That is the point.
- Go back to the hub and change your rover based on what went wrong. Bigger wheels, more grip, different tools.
- Retry the mission. The Try, Try Again badge is for exactly this loop.
- Once you have a few missions done, try the Dust Dash time trial for a score to beat.
Mission Mars Gameplay
The loop is build, drive, fail, rebuild. You start each mission with a rover you designed, and the mission tells you fast whether the design works.
The Ice, Ice Maybe mission in Planum Boreum is the hard one. You have to get a rover across slippery polar terrain to a drill site, and most first attempts slide off course.
Ramp Rescue is about jumping a canyon to reach a stranded astronaut. Too little speed and you fall short, too much and you overshoot the landing.
Between missions the social hub is where the building happens. You can watch what other players have made and copy ideas, which is its own kind of learning.
The rewards are astronaut suit colors and backpacks. They change how you look and nothing about how the rover drives.
Tips for New Mission Mars Players
- Do not spend forever on your first rover. You will rebuild it after the first mission fails anyway.
- Big soft wheels help almost everywhere. They are the safest starting choice for the hard missions.
- For the ice mission, go slow. Speed is what makes you slide off the polar terrain.
- For Ramp Rescue, practice the jump with a light rover first to learn the distance, then load up.
- Read the mission goal fully before you launch. Half of failed runs are chasing the wrong thing.
- If a design keeps failing, change one thing at a time. That is how you learn which change mattered.
What Is Free in Mission Mars
The whole game
Every mission, the rover builder and the social hub are free. There are no game passes at all.
Astronaut suits and backpacks
You unlock suit colors and backpacks by completing missions. They are real Roblox items you can wear anywhere.
A real STEM lesson
The Engineering Design Process the game teaches is the same one used in real engineering. Learning it here costs nothing.
A museum for kids who cannot visit Boston
The game exists to bring a museum experience to students anywhere, for free.
Mission Mars FAQ
Is Mission Mars free?
Yes, completely. There are no game passes and no purchases. The Museum of Science funds it.
Does Mission Mars have codes?
No. The suit and backpack unlocks come from finishing missions, not from a code box. Our codes page has the detail.
Is the Mars in the game accurate?
The environment and rover physics use real NASA data, and two areas are named after real places, Arsia Mons and Planum Boreum.
What is the hardest mission?
Ice, Ice Maybe on the polar plain. About 164,000 players tried it and 147,000 of them retried it, which tells you how it goes the first time.
Who made it?
The Museum of Science in Boston commissioned it, and the studio Filament Games built it. It was the first Roblox Community Fund game to launch.
Why is the rating only 64 percent?
It is a STEM game with a build-and-retry loop, and some players want more action. The low rating is common for educational games.
About Mission Mars
Mission Mars is a free educational Roblox game commissioned by the Museum of Science in Boston and built with the studio Filament Games. It launched in December 2022 as the first experience funded by the Roblox Community Fund.
It has passed nearly 8 million visits and holds about 28,500 favorites. The rating is 64 percent from 6,097 votes, which is low for a game this size and normal for a STEM title.
Roblox lists it under Learning and Explore. It has no game passes, no codes and no scripts, and everything in it is free.
More on This Game
Our Mission Mars codes page explains why the suit unlocks come from missions instead of a code box.
Our Mission Mars script page covers why there is nothing to run in a build-and-retry game with no score to skip.