Nasa’s Perseverance rover on Mars breaks record for off-planet driving

Nasa’s robotic Perseverance rover has now driven farther than any other vehicle on the surface of any world other than Earth, racking up 45.2km (28.1 miles) since arriving on Mars in 2021, the US space agency said on Tuesday.

The car-sized, six-wheeled rover reached the milestone 5½ years into its mission to explore if conditions conducive to microbial life ever existed on Earth’s neighbour.

In doing so, it is visiting some of the ‌most ancient terrain ever encountered in the solar system.