NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to become the most widely travelled vehicle on another world, passing Opportunity’s 45.16km record next week. Its achievement matters because it demonstrates that autonomous navigation can greatly increase the pace and scientific reach of planetary exploration, allowing a rover to spend less time awaiting instructions from Earth.

Perseverance landed on Mars in February 2021 and has driven about 90% of its distance autonomously, compared with roughly 10% for the older Curiosity rover, whose computer is far less capable. Its navigation system uses onboard cameras and computing to avoid hazards while moving, although its top speed is only about 150 metres per hour; this has helped it explore widely separated sites in Jezero Crater, including rocks around four billion years old that may reveal Mars’s ancient environmental conditions.