Note: this is the assemble-it-yourself kit, the assembled version of this badge can be found here

What is it?

A glowing badge created to celebrate the success of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover! The front features detailed artwork depicting the rover's Remote Sensing Mast and its various scientific instruments. It's powered by a CR2032 battery, and is backlit through the PCB by one ultra-bright red and three yellow LEDs.

What makes it special?

• It's big (9cm x 10cm) and detailed and super cool
• It has a nice shiny ENIG (gold) finish
• Red LED illuminates Percy's "SuperCam" instrument, simulating its rock-zapping laser
• Martian horizon in background, created by a copper pour on the back side.

What are my options?

You can choose whether you want a kit, which comes with a PCB and a bag of parts, or just the bare PCB (artwork only) - it looks nice on its own and is easier to mount with a flat back. Or if you want the pre-assembled version, you can find it here.

It's available with a magnet or a (butterfly clutch) pin - I recommend getting it with a magnet, it looks great on the fridge. It's too big and bulky (9cm x 10cm) to wear comfortably on a shirt, but could be pinned somewhere for display.

How difficult is the kit?

Not too bad, if you have some soldering experience. If not, I'd start with a through-hole soldering project first to get the feel for it. If you've done that already, or you're adventurous, this is a good first SMD soldering experience. The smallest parts are 0805 resistors. The side-mount LEDs are 1206 size, but they are a bit fiddly and difficult due to their shape. I will post full instructions and a video on this page before badges ship, but I have been hand-assembling them with a small iron with no problems.

Errata

The "optional ATTiny85" footprint on the back is not actually the correct size for adding an ATTiny85, so this is not currently an option 😬 - but it may become an option on later board revisions.

NOTE: This product is "fan art" and is not officially licensed by or affiliated with NASA/JPL or California Institute of Technology, creators of the Mars rovers.