A robot on Mars breaks a driving record
NASA’s Perseverance rover has now driven farther than any vehicle has ever driven on another world.
On 11 October, a rover called Perseverance passed 45.22 kilometers of driving on Mars. That beats the old record of 45.16 km, set by an older rover called Opportunity.
A rover is a robot car that explores a planet. Perseverance is about the size of a small car. It has six wheels, cameras for eyes and a long arm with tools.
Faster than before
Opportunity took almost 15 years to drive that far. Perseverance did it in about 5 and a half years. Scientists first planned for it to drive only about 20 km!
What is it looking for?
Perseverance is searching for signs that tiny living things may have lived on Mars long, long ago, when it had lakes and rivers. Next, it will drive up to the rim of a big crater, where some rocks may be among the oldest in our solar system.
Did you know?Perseverance landed on Mars in February 2021. A tiny helicopter called Ingenuity rode along with it and flew 72 times!
Big wordrover
A robot vehicle that drives around and explores another planet or moon.
A robot vehicle that drives around and explores another planet or moon.
Talk about itIf you had a rover, where would you send it to explore?