How does the rover drive itself?

Much of the credit belongs to Perseverance's autonomous navigation system, known as AutoNav. While rolling, the rover images the terrain, builds a 3D map of hazards, and plots its course between waypoints chosen by planners on Earth — a capability the team calls "thinking while driving."

The numbers tell the story of three decades of progress:

• Perseverance has driven more than 90% of its total distance using AutoNav; the first Martian AutoNav system on Opportunity and its twin Spirit accounted for about 5%.
• The first Mars rover, Sojourner, assessed the path ahead with 20 measurement points; Perseverance processes 600,000 with every look.
• The rover can navigate at or near its top speed, covering as much as 1,351 feet (412 meters) in a single sol (a Martian day).

Steven Lee, project manager for the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said: "It is an honor to be working on Perseverance at a moment when the technology has evolved to the point that drives like these are routine. 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."

NASA recently approved the mission's first extension, which began in October and will carry Perseverance's exploration of the crater rim through roughly the end of 2028.

What came before?

The record caps nearly three decades of NASA rover operations, each mission driving farther than the last:

• Sojourner (1997): the microwave-oven-size rover covered about 330 feet (100 meters) in an 83-sol mission.
• Spirit (2004–2010): logged 4.8 miles (7.7 km) before succumbing to the Martian winter.
• Opportunity (2004–2018): rolled for 5,111 sols and completed the first extraterrestrial marathon in 2015.
• Curiosity (2012–present): has logged more than 23.65 miles (38.07 kilometers) in Gale Crater.

The record is not limited to Mars. Earlier in its journey, Perseverance passed the 22.2 miles (35.7 kilometers) covered by Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972, and the 24.2 miles (39 kilometers) driven by the Soviet Lunokhod 2 rover on the Moon in 1973.

What comes next?

Mark Maimone, deputy team chief for robotic operations on Perseverance, said: "The rover that broke this record did so by making its own decisions about the path. Given the autonomy to just go, Perseverance is a better driver than the one that landed, and we're not done."

New software now teaches the rover to steer less and roll more, and to check its own position against orbital maps mid-drive. The next frontier, Maimone said, is sunlight itself: glare in the navigation cameras forces the rover to park by mid-afternoon when driving toward the sun, and teaching it to see past those artifacts would give every future rover a longer working day.

After Lac de Charmes, Perseverance will continue along the crater rim and head south during the extended mission toward Rainbow Falls, a 328-foot-wide (100-meter-wide) block of ancient crust uplifted by the impact that created Jezero.