Need for Speed: Perseverance Mars Rover Driving up to 5 Times Faster Than Predecessor, JPL Says

As it sets off on its quest across the landscape of Mars’ Jezero Crater, Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Perseverance Mars Rover is rolling along at four to five times the speed of its younger sibling, the Curiosity Mars Rover, thanks to advances in Perseverance’s self-driving system, according to JPL.

Since the distance between the Earth and Mars results in a communications delay of more than 20 minutes, depending on the planets’ positions in their orbits, there is now way to pilot a rover on Mars in real time.

“But increasingly, the rover will take charge of the drive by itself, using a powerful auto-navigation system,” JPL said in a written statement. “Called AutoNav, this enhanced system makes 3D maps of the terrain ahead, identifies hazards, and plans a route around any obstacles without additional direction from controllers back on Earth.”

JPL Space Roboticist and Perseverance Mars Rover driver Vandi Verma said the robotic explorer has “thinking while driving” capability.

“The rover is thinking about the autonomous drive while its wheels are turning,” she said.

Along with other improvements to the AutoNav system, Perseverance could hit a top speed of up to 393 feet per hour, compared with the 66 feet per hour achieved by the similarly sized Curiosity Mars Rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2012. JPL 

“We sped up AutoNav by four or five times,” Mobility Domain Lead Michael McHentry explained. “We’re driving a lot farther in a lot less time than Curiosity demonstrated.”

The improvements mean that Perseverance can conduct more scientific research in less time, according to Perseverance Mars Rover Project Manager Jennifer Trosper, who has worked on every rover that NASA has sent to Mars.

“We’re going to be able to get to places the scientists want to go much more quickly,” she said. “Now we are able to drive through these more complex terrains instead of going around them: It’s not something we’ve been able to do before.”

As they study images from the rover and plot courses of travel, the scientists controlling Perseverance make use of 3D glasses to get the most accurate possible view of the terrain, Verma said.

“Jezero is incredible,” she said. “It’s a rover driver’s paradise. When you put on the 3D glasses, you see so much more undulation in the terrain. Some days I just stare at the images.”

More information on the Perseverance Mars Rover is available online at jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance-rover.