Mars rover Perseverance breaks Opportunity's distance record
NASA, the US space agency, says its Mars rover Perseverance is now the most-travelled vehicle beyond Earth. By 11 October it had covered 45.22 kilometres.
NASA, the United States space agency, has announced that its Mars exploration rover Perseverance has set a new distance record, becoming the most-travelled vehicle outside Earth. The six-wheeled rover, powered by a nuclear power system, had covered 45.22 kilometres by 11 October this year.
Opportunity's mark surpassed
With that figure, Perseverance has overtaken the previous record holder, the NASA rover Opportunity, which the agency describes as legendary. Opportunity's odometer showed 45.16 kilometres. The gap between the two results is small, roughly 60 metres, but Perseverance now stands ahead as the vehicle that has driven the longest distance away from our planet.
What the record means
An odometer is a device that measures the distance a vehicle has travelled. Its readings make it possible to compare the routes driven by the two Mars rovers. Perseverance is one of the NASA machines working on the Martian surface, and the new figure shows how far it has progressed in its work on the planet.
The source text is truncated at this point, so further details about the rover's mission and its future plans are not included here. The core fact is clear: NASA has confirmed that Perseverance's distance total has exceeded the one achieved by Opportunity and is now the highest recorded for any vehicle beyond Earth.