[1] The rover would be designed to operate on the surface of Venus for 50 Earth days, and navigate sandy plains bathed in heat and dense sulfuric acid clouds under very high atmospheric pressure.

Zephyr would sail up to 15 minutes per day to reach its next target,[3] where it would park using a combination of brakes and feathering the wingsail while it performs its science activities.

[2] Since 2012, scientist Geoffrey A. Landis has been working on a mission concept for a Venus rover propelled by a rigid wingsail, inspired on the landsailing vehicles.

Although some technology development is needed to bring the high-temperature electronics to operational readiness, the study showed that such a mobility approach is feasible, and no major difficulties are seen.

[1][2] Given the extreme environmental conditions at the surface of Venus, all previous landers and atmospheric probes operated for a few hours at most, so the Glenn Research Center team plans to use materials and electronics developed to withstand not just the extreme pressure, corrosive atmosphere and heat, but also operate with minimum solar power and without a cooling system, which reduces the landing mass significantly.

[3] From the images acquired by the Russian Venera probes, the surface of Venus can be seen to have landscapes of flat, even terrain stretching to the horizon, with rocks at only centimeter scale at their locations, making it possible for landsailing.

[2] Funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, is allowing research into developing the needed "Venus-hardened" systems.

[2] Although the thick cloud layer limits sunlight reaching the surface, there is enough light to use solar panels for low-power demand systems.

[3] The propulsion concept is a rigid wingsail, mounted perpendicular to the base that can rotate via an electric motor about its mean aerodynamic center to produce a lift (thrust) vector at any orientation, depending on the direction of the wind.

[2] Because of the thick Venus atmosphere, radio signals from the rover would be limited in power and reach, so a relay orbiter needs to be incorporated in the mission architecture.