Telepresence refers to the use of cameras and other equipment to remotely study a distant environment. This technology is primarily used to explore places that are inhospitable to humans. Scientists have used robotic vehicles on Earth to explore active volcanoes and the ocean floors. But telepresence has been used primarily to explore other worlds. Some vehicles, such as the Lunar Surveyor missions that set down on the Moon's surface in the 1960s and the Viking stations that landed on Mars in 1976, remained stationary and analyzed materials within the reach of their experiments. Other vehicles were mobile rovers, such as the Soviet Lunakhod missions that explored the Moon in 1970 and 1973 and the Sojourner rover, which was part of the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997.

Telepresence allows scientists to learn about a hostile environment without endangering human life. In some cases, such as the exploration of Venus's surface by the Soviet...