This NASA Mars rover just smashed the record for distance travelled on a planet beyond Earth

NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2020, has now travelled further than any other off-world vehicle, beating the previous record set by the now-defunct Opportunity rover by 40 metres (131 feet).

Opportunity racked up a total of 45.16km (28.06 miles) in the years 2004 to 2018.

Perseverance, in contrast, has only been on the Martian surface for six years, and continues to explore.

That means the new distance record of 45.2km (28.09 miles), which it set while travelling through a region of the Jezero Crater called Lac De Charmes on the 2,006th Martian day of its mission, is unlikely to be bettered for some time to come.

What makes Perseverance go for longer

This marked improvement in rover performance can largely be attributed to Perseverance’s advanced autonomous navigation system, known imaginatively as AutoNav.

This system creates a 3D map of the Martian surface as it drives, and can identify any hazards and calculate its own best route from point A to point B as it goes along.

Opportunity, similarly, had an earlier version of AutoNav on-board, but that system was used to navigate just 5% of the total distance travelled.

The rover was otherwise dependent on human instructions sent from Earth. Perseverance, on the other hand, has used AutoNav for 90% of its journeys.

Steven Lee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is project manager for both the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, says: "The original mission called for no more than 12.4 miles of driving.

"We’ve blown well past that, and with all mobility systems fully operational and favorable extended-ground-life test results, we expect Perseverance to keep adding to this record for many years to come."

Mark Maimon, Perseverance’s deputy team leader for robotic operations, adds that the team are currently working to improve the rover’s navigation software, which is dependent on camera images.

No rest for the wicked

If they can eliminate the problem of glare from sunlight, rovers would no longer need to cease operations by mid-afternoon, as they currently do when travelling towards the Sun.

This would mean rovers would have a longer effective working day, be able to travel even further, and so would be able to gather more geological data.

The third most-travelled Mars rover is Curiosity, which has driven 38.15km (23.7 miles) since landing on the Red Planet in 2012 and is still up there doing its thing.

But for now, the bronze medal in the off-world distance Olympics still goes to Russian lunar rover Lunokhod 2, which traversed 39km (24.23 miles) of the Moon’s surface way back in 1973.

Lunokhod 2 didn’t just travel further than any of NASA’s three lunar rovers (those associated with the Apollo 17, Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 missions), and further than its own predecessor Lunokhod 1 – it also covered more distance than NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Sojourner.

But it surely can’t be long before Curiosity steals its third place crown.

In the meantime, congratulations – and perhaps a glass of bubbly or two? – are in order for all those involved in the Perseverance mission.