NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sets a Mars Driving Record
Advances in self-driving technology have made it easier to traverse distant worlds.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has broken the record for the greatest total distance driven on any world beyond Earth. On October 11, 2026, Perseverance's odometer reached 28.10 miles (45.22 kilometers), surpassing the 28.06-mile (45.16-kilometer) record set by NASA's Opportunity rover. The milestone occurred on the 2,006th Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance's mission, with the rover covering a distance in five and a half years that took Opportunity almost 15 years to accomplish.
This accomplishment is largely attributed to Perseverance's autonomous navigation system, AutoNav, which allows the rover to analyze terrain, map hazards, and plot its course using 600,000 measurement points per look, compared to Opportunity's system that processed only 20 points. As Perseverance continues its exploration, the rover's record highlights nearly three decades of NASA rover operations on Mars, each mission driving farther and more efficiently than the last.
Written by urgent.news from NASA Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
- NASA’s Perseverance Sets Off-World Record for Total Distance Driven science.nasa.gov
