Perseverance sets another-world driving record on Mars

NASA reported that Perseverance set a record for the farthest distance driven on another celestial body. On Sol 2006 (Oct. 11, 2026), its odometer reached 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles).

Two months ago, on Sol 1947, the odometer was about 200 meters from the milestone. Perseverance stopped for short drives to abrade rocks and conduct proximity science on ancient rock outcrops. The rover later continued and passed the record.

Perseverance navigated dense boulder fields and steep slopes during the drive. According to NASA, the team re-evaluated its driving guidelines after running thousands of simulations. The team raised the rover’s tilt limit to 24 degrees and reduced required belly pan clearance to 20 centimeters (about 7.9 inches).

The team also updated the rover’s braking software to avoid rock hazards, nearly doubled steer motor current limits and added flight software with dynamic slip tables to model expected slip. It used cross-slope driving to anchor the rover’s wheels on exposed bedrock.

NASA described an autonomous drive capability called onboard Global Localization, or GBLC. It uses a high-speed commercial processor inside the Ingenuity Helicopter Base Station to compare ground and orbital imagery. The system located Perseverance in global coordinates after a drive and allowed the rover to travel farther without human intervention.

The agency said the processor was not hardened against radiation on the Martian surface. The team developed a software-based approach to radiation hardening. It was also exploring generative SI to propose solutions for steering AutoNav along strategic paths, based on lessons from 45 kilometers (more than 28 miles) of driving.