Comment by NoiseBert69

If you want to build a "mars rover" yourself you can even simulate that at home :-)

Use LoRa in the slowest and most reliable mode as radio link. Write software to plan your tours, firmware updates over super limited bandwidth (delta updates are a must), transfer telemetry (buy a few sensors from ali) or even pictures. Autonomous driving? Yes why not.

Bonus 1: build a small PCB with a solar panel and charging circuit. That doubles the horror.

Bonus 2: Place it into your families garden that is at least 1km away.

Lots of very hard challenges to tackle for even super experienced programmers.

It's even a nice group project for an university lab. If you have to connect a real debugger to get your bot running again your team lost.