NASA’s Perseverance rover has driven farther on another world than any vehicle in history, reaching 45.22 kilometres across the surface of Mars.

The six-wheeled rover passed the previous 45.16-kilometre record set by NASA’s Opportunity rover during a 91.31-metre drive on October 11, the 2,006th Martian day of the Perseverance mission.

Five and a half years to pass a 15-year record

Perseverance reached the milestone about five and a half years after landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Opportunity accumulated its record during a mission that operated from 2004 to 2018.

The comparison reflects major changes in rover technology. NASA says Perseverance has driven more than 90 per cent of its total distance using AutoNav, an autonomous navigation system that photographs the terrain, builds a three-dimensional map of hazards and selects a safe route between waypoints chosen by engineers on Earth.

NASA’s first Mars rover, Sojourner, travelled about 100 metres during its 83-sol mission in 1997. Spirit later covered 7.7 kilometres, while Curiosity has driven more than 38 kilometres and remains active in Gale Crater.

Record set beyond Jezero Crater’s rim

Perseverance broke the record while travelling through a region called Lac de Charmes toward an area known as Idubi, beyond the western rim of Jezero Crater.

The rover is examining terrain that may include some of the oldest rocks explored anywhere in the solar system. NASA scientists hope the area will contain evidence of ancient hydrothermal systems, environments where warm groundwater may once have interacted with Martian rock.

The driving record is not the mission’s main scientific goal. Longer autonomous drives allow the rover to reach more varied geology, examine additional outcrops and collect samples from a wider range of environments.

Perseverance has collected 29 rock and regolith samples from the crater floor, an ancient river delta and the crater rim. It previously identified what NASA described as a potential biosignature in a rock called Cheyava Falls. A potential biosignature is a feature that may have a biological origin but requires further evidence before it can be treated as a sign of past life.

Mission extended through 2028

NASA recently approved the mission’s first extension, which is expected to keep Perseverance exploring the crater rim through roughly the end of 2028.

Steven Lee, the project manager for Perseverance and Curiosity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Reuters that the rover’s hardware and instruments remain in excellent condition. He said a recent assessment found the systems could continue operating well into the 2030s, although any mission timeline depends on the rover’s condition and available funding.

The rover’s plutonium-powered electrical system is performing as expected. Engineers are also testing mobility hardware to understand how it would perform over distances of 100 kilometres or more.

The new record also exceeds the distances travelled by crewed and robotic vehicles on the Moon, including the Apollo 17 lunar rover and the Soviet Lunokhod 2 rover.

Sources: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, October 12; Reuters, October 13 at 12:35 a.m. EDT; NASA Perseverance mission page.

Lead image: Perseverance’s October 11 navigation-camera view from the record-setting drive. NASA/JPL-Caltech.