NASA's Perseverance rover breaks record for longest mission

NASA's Perseverance rover has reportedly broken the record for the longest journey to another planet.

The vehicle, which covered 6.5 meters and returned on its first test run, has since achieved numerous successes, including crater climbs, daily runs of hundreds of meters, and self-driving runs of 700 meters. The vehicle is currently searching for clay-bearing rock samples on the Krokodillen Plateau, on the outer slope of Jezero Crater. The presence of minerals called phyllosilicates, in particular, could indicate that the area once held abundant water and even preserved ancient organic matter.

When Perseverance noticed that the rocks it had recently analyzed fractured easily, the NASA team decided to return to a stable, clay-rich area it had previously sampled. This decision explains the reason for the record-breaking, long journey. The total distance record on Mars is over 40 kilometers, held by the Opportunity rover, which operated from 2004 to 2018. Perseverance has currently traveled approximately 36 kilometers and, at its current speed, is expected to break that record soon.