Perseverance and the new record
However, the new record holder on Mars is now Perseverance. This Mars rover, which landed in the Jezero Crater in February 2021, is a “rolling Mars laboratory” similar to its predecessor Curiosity: In addition to several cameras, Perseverance has a laser and two spectrometers with which it can analyze heated rock samples. Perseverance also has sample containers on board in which it collected 29 rock and dust samples over the course of its journeys for a later return mission.
On October 11, 2026 – the 2006th Mars day of its mission – Perseverance reached the milestone of 45.22 kilometers traveled. He has now completed more than one marathon on Mars and has surpassed Opportunity’s record distance. Perseverance only needed five and a half years to complete its record distance, while Opportunity needed almost 15 years to complete the same distance.
“Perseverance’s original mission plan included no more than 20 kilometers of driving distance. We have long since exceeded this value,” says Steven Lee, rover project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Because all systems are still fully operational and tests have been positive for an extended mission duration, we expect that Perseverance will continue to operate for many years to come.”
Travel faster thanks to autonomous navigation
What’s new about the Mars rover Perseverance is its extensive capability for autonomous navigation: the ground team sets waymarks for it, but the rover navigates to them independently. This is made possible by its autonomous navigation system, which uses cameras to probe the terrain, create 3D maps of its surroundings and then choose the safest possible course between obstacles. This autonomous driving style allows the rover to drive significantly faster than its predecessors.
“Perseverance set this record because it can make its own route selection decisions,” explains JPL’s Mark Maimone. Because the Mars rover is capable of learning, its navigation and driving style improve every day. “Perseverance is a better driver today than it was when it landed – and we are far from finished,” says Maimone. “Our latest software teaches Perseverance to steer less and roll more, as well as to check its position using maps from orbit while driving.”
Comparison of distances traveled by different rovers on the Moon and Mars. — © NASA/JPL-Caltech
Biosignature and new targets
But for Perseverance, the new distance record is just a byproduct of its actual mission. His job is to search for traces of past life on Mars. To do this, he has already examined various rock formations in the Jezero crater, which was once flowed by rivers. In 2025, the rover detected a potential biosignature for the first time on the surface of a one-meter-large boulder – named Cheyava Falls. It consists of iron-containing sulfides and phosphates, which could have been created with the help of living microorganisms.
It has not yet been finally clarified whether the spots on the “Cheyava Falls” rock are really traces of past microbial life on Mars – this could only be clarified by an analysis of these finds in an earthly laboratory. Meanwhile, Perseverance is already on its way to a new promising target on the western rim of the Jezero crater. Geologists suspect that there are particularly old rock formations and the relics of a hydrothermal system. The Mars rover will explore this area until at least the end of 2028.
Source: NASA