Space and Physics
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For five years, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been studying the river delta inside Mars's Jezero Crater and beyond. Its goal is to better understand the Red Planet's past and the possibility of life on it. The rover has found what is currently the most promising rock that might suggest that there was once life on Mars (but we don't know that for sure, and bringing the samples home to study is a whole other issue). Today, though, we're focusing on something different: its movements. The rover's journey over the last five years has led it to not just new and incredible findings, it's about to set a few travel records on another world.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Perseverance is a masterpiece of engineering. It has not moved in the last month due to the position of Mars – currently behind the Sun – as this disrupts radio communication between Mars and Earth, making sending commands risky, but as of December 11, 2025, it has been driven 39.96 kilometers (24.83 miles). That's nearly a marathon, which it will likely complete this year.
Another Record Looms
There is only one land-based vehicle that has traveled longer on another world, and that is NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover. By the end of the mission, the rover had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers (28.06 miles). Perseverance is going to easily reach that, and based on past movements, it could very likely happen this year – but it will depend on what the mission scientists spot next and where they want to send the rover.
“It's up to the science team to choose how the rover spends its time. If the goal were to drive several kilometers away quickly, we could accomplish that in a matter of weeks,” Mark Maimone, a long-time rover driver and mobility engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told IFLScience.
“But most likely we will be performing science assessments using the many sensors on the rover rather than just driving, so it will likely be a while before we match Opportunity's record," Maimone explained, adding, "I do want to note that Opportunity drove for nearly 15 years, whereas we are not yet at five years of operations, so we're likely to surpass Opportunity's record 3x faster than it did!”
In 2025, Perseverance broke the record for its longest drive when it covered 411.7 meters (1,350.7 feet) on June 19, or Sol 1540. One year into the mission, the rover drove 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in 24 days during the “Perseverance Rapid Traverse Campaign". The secret is in the rover's capability to drive itself.
The Most Sophisticated Mars Rover Yet
“Rovers have been actively exploring Mars during most of the past 29 years. But it's only recently with Perseverance's self-driving software and hardware that a rover has been able to drive autonomously at nearly its full mechanical top speed,” Maimone told IFLScience.
While NASA engineers plot a course for the rover each day and its scientific activities, once it starts driving, it is on its own and relies on its autonomous systems to navigate any unexpected obstacles along its path. Previous rovers could do this to a certain extent, but were unable to do so as far in advance as Perseverance. They would often have to slow down to a crawl in order to navigate around rocks, sand pits, and ledges.
“It's a great engineering achievement to have our latest Mars rover able to drive itself quickly enough that self-driving is now the primary way we accomplish long drives. In fact, over 90% of all driving on Perseverance is now being done autonomously.”
The human rover planners still need to find the best and safest route for the rover to reach the scientific destination of relevance, while the autonomous navigation performs dozens of checks multiple times per second to make sure the rover stays safe.
The prospect of being one of the first humans to see pictures from another world filled me with awe. Yet every time we drive to a new location, that's exactly what our rover planners get to do; driving on Mars is truly a dream come true.
Mark Maimone
The team uses satellite images to plan longer drives and rover images for the shorter ones. As Mars is several light-minutes from Earth, it takes time for the instructions to arrive. This is why the autonomous software has been revolutionary. It can recognize hazards and keep the rover safe, which allows for more complex driving.
“Having successfully driven 411.7 meters on sol 1540 also helps guide our planning for the rest of the mission. If we know we can accomplish long drives, that gives the Science team more options for exploration, both in distance travelled and also time spent at a given science site (since we can quickly maneuver to the next one),” Maimone told IFLScience.
The Road Ahead Might Not Be Smooth, But It Will Be Covered
Last summer, JPL certified that the rotary actuators, which are the bits that turn the rover’s wheels, will perform optimally for at least another 60 kilometers (37 miles). The rover can happily drive 100 kilometers (61 miles) in total. Now they are testing the brakes. But even if some issues were to emerge, Maimone is certain that they will be overcome and the rover will continue to do amazing science.
“We've learned a lot from past missions, including how to operate the rover even after motors fail," Maimone told IFLScience.
"Spirit lost a drive motor and had to drag a wheel, but that dragging ended up uncovering white silica that led to one of the best science results of the mission. Opportunity eventually had to drive with its arm extended out in front of it when an arm motor failed. And Curiosity had to completely redevelop its drilling strategy when its drill's feed motor failed. Each mission continued long after something failed; we expect Perseverance to persevere as well. We look forward to operating as long as we can on Mars, driving, studying, collecting samples.”
Having access to an actual Martian rover driver, we couldn’t help but ask about what operating a vehicle on another world is like.
“When I was a kid, I was amazed by pictures from the Viking missions, including a photo of the science team getting a first look at pictures from Mars. The prospect of being one of the first humans to see pictures from another world filled me with awe. Yet every time we drive to a new location, that's exactly what our rover planners get to do; driving on Mars is truly a dream come true,” Maimone revealed.
On February 18, 2026, Perseverance will have been on Mars for five years. You can see the path it has taken in and around Jezero Crater on NASA's rover location map.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Perseverance had already completed the equivalent of a marathon on Mars. This was incorrect and based on a comment on the rover’s commanded driving, which had surpassed 42 kilometers. The sandy surface of Mars forces the wheels to often rotate more than the actual distance covered, which has resulted in a discrepancy between the commanded distance and actual distance covered on the surface.
