General
NASA’s Perseverance rover takes its first drive on the surface of Mars
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has taken its first short drive on the surface of the Red Planet, two weeks after the robot science lab’s picture-perfect touchdown on the floor of a massive crater, mission managers said.
Key points:
- The probe travelled a total of 6.5 metres in the Jezero Crater on Mars
- It rolled 4m forward before turning 150 degrees and driving backward 2.5m
- A NASA engineer described the test drive as a “huge milestone” for the mission
The six-wheeled, car-sized astrobiology probe put a total of 6.5 metres on its odometer during a half-hour test spin within Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient, long-vanished lakebed and river delta on Mars.
Taking directions from mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near…
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