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NASA’s Perseverance rover has set a new distance record on Mars. The U.S. space agency said Tuesday that the rover has traveled 45.2 kilometers since landing in 2021, the longest distance covered by a robotic vehicle exploring a world beyond Earth.
The car-sized, six-wheeled rover has been carrying out its mission for more than five years, investigating whether conditions on Mars could have supported microbial life. Its route passes through some of the oldest terrains explored in the solar system.
Steven Lee, who leads the Perseverance and Curiosity projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told Reuters that the rover’s engineering hardware and scientific instruments are in excellent condition and all of its backup systems are operational.
Lee added that the latest assessment of the systems showed they could probably continue operating into the 2030s, and potentially for longer.
Perseverance surpasses Opportunity’s record
Perseverance has surpassed the previous record of 45 kilometers set by NASA’s Opportunity rover, which operated on Mars from 2004 to 2018. Both rovers have traveled farther than any vehicle used on the Moon.
Equipped with scientific instruments, Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater in Mars’ northern hemisphere. Scientists believe the area may have contained a lake billions of years ago.
The rover broke the record while traveling from an area known as Lac de Charmes, beyond the western rim of Jezero Crater, toward a site called Idubi. NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to explore Gale Crater near Mars’ equator.
About 90% of the route is driven autonomously
One of the main factors behind the record distance is the rover’s ability to move across the Martian surface without continuous human instructions. NASA says this capability is enabled by its autonomous navigation system, called AutoNav. According to Lee, 90% of Perseverance’s driving is carried out without human intervention.
Another advantage is a high-speed auxiliary processor called the Vision Compute Element, which processes images and allows the navigation software to run almost continuously while the rover is moving. Lee said earlier rovers had to stop and perform calculations before beginning the next leg of a drive.
Lee said Perseverance was developed using 29 years of experience from the Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. Each new rover has built on the experience of its predecessors to improve the ability to travel on another world.
Perseverance was initially expected to travel only 20 kilometers. Although it has covered more than twice that distance, it remains in good condition.
NASA has approved an extension of the mission that will allow the rover to explore the crater rim until around the end of 2028. Lee said the rover’s plutonium-powered system is also performing as expected, with usable energy reserves expected to last for many years.
If its systems continue to perform well, Perseverance could keep exploring Mars into the next decade, extending its scientific discoveries and record-setting journey.
