The Perseverance rover has broken a 17-year record on Mars and traveled the longest distance in one sol.
The Perseverance rover continues its scientific activities and studies the surface of Mars, extracting rock samples, in the hope of finding traces of ancient life. And, as it became known from the messages of NASA officials, he (the rover) updated the record by completing the longest journey in one Martian day (sol). That's about this event and we'll talk in this material.
There is a new record for the longest trip in one sol
The fact that the Perseverance rover set a new record and covered a distance of 243 m in one sol, and the very next day (and exactly on February 5, 2022 d) updated it and drove 245 m, it became known from the official message of the space agency, published in Twitter.
By the way, the previous record for the longest journey in one Martian day belonged to the Opportunity rover, and it lasted almost 17 years.
The reason why the record hasn't been updated in such a long time is because the people in charge who run Perseverance show a special caution when traveling in order to ensure that the expensive device is free from possible collisions with stones and other obstacles.
NASA officials also released images of the wheels of the Curiosity rover, which show how merciless the Martian surface is and how badly damaged the wheels are.
But the good news is that even with such wheels, the rover is quite capable of moving around and performing its tasks.
But back to Perseverance. So NASA reported that setting the record was made possible through the use of the unique AutoNav navigation system developed for the Perseverance rover.
This system uses an algorithm for constructing a three-dimensional map of the surrounding area and building a route around the identified obstacles.
Despite the high autonomy of such a system, operator control is still necessary, but to a much lesser extent.
Such an autonomous system allows the Perseverance rover to potentially move at a speed of 120 meters per hour, which is significantly more than 20 meters per hour for the Curiosity rover.
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