Perhaps by the time our children are grown up, they’ll be able to travel to Mars for their holidays on passenger-spaceships. For now, they’ll have to make do with iPhone app PetitRocket Mission to Mars.

It’s a fun, well-crafted app that starts by taking a photograph of your child using the iPhone’s front-facing camera, thus making them the astronaut peering out of the app’s little orange rocket.

It then blasts off, and they steer it to Mars by tilting the device left and right to follow a dotted line – with no penalty for doing it wrong, which is an important touch for young children – and landing on the Red Planet. They can then tap to capture the moment as a photo, before jetting home.

It’s simple, and that’s its charm. Developer Paul Baron is promising “mission extensions” and new spaceships by Japanese animator Gaku Kinoshita in a forthcoming update, as well as music from pop band Lullatone.

He also suggests that the app is “designed to get kids up and moving”, including running around with the iPhone (tightly!) held in their hands. We think that could be a lot of fun, especially in groups.

PetitRocket Mission to Mars costs 69p on the App Store, for iPhone and iPod touch.