Perseverance Smashes Autonomous Driving Record on Mars
- Published
- Source
- Spectrum.ieee.orgAutomaton
NASA's Perseverance rover has achieved a remarkable milestone in autonomous navigation on Mars, completing approximately 90% of its travels without human intervention since landing on February 18, 2021. As of October 28, 2024, the rover has driven over 30 kilometers (18.65 miles) and collected 24 samples, significantly surpassing the 6.2% autonomy rate of its predecessor, Curiosity. This advancement is largely attributed to its Enhanced Autonomous Navigation (ENav) algorithm, which allows the rover to analyze its surroundings and evaluate thousands of potential paths using limited computing power equivalent to an outdated iMac G3.
The rover's journey has been guided primarily by images it captures, as high-resolution data from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is often insufficient for navigation. Despite challenges posed by the uncharted Martian terrain, ENav enables Perseverance to assess travel time and terrain roughness, running complex calculations only on the most promising paths. This strategic design has resulted in unprecedented levels of autonomous driving, including a record-setting 331.74 meters in a single Martian day on April 3, 2023.
Masahiro "Hiro" Ono, a supervisor at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasizes the importance of advancing autonomous navigation for future space exploration, particularly as missions venture farther from Earth where communication delays become significant. The ongoing success of Perseverance highlights the critical role of automation in expanding the frontiers of space exploration.
Original report
Perseverance Smashes Autonomous Driving Record on Mars
Spectrum.ieee.orgAutomaton · Michelle HampsonThis briefing is an independently written summary based on publicly available reporting and is provided for industry information and news discovery. The original report and source publication are credited and linked where applicable. RobotToday does not claim ownership of third-party source material.
Rights concerns? Contact [email protected] with the relevant URL and details. We will review the matter and take appropriate action where warranted.
More related news
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Related Suppliers
Drone Delivery Canada
Canada
Vaughan, Ontario drone logistics developer merged with Volatus Aerospace in August 2024; the combined company trades as FLT in Toronto.
Duckietown Robotics
United States
Educational robotics platform provider offering autonomous vehicle kits and AI curricula used by 250+ universities worldwide.
EasyMile
France
Toulouse, France autonomous-vehicle software company founded 2014; EZTow and EZDolly systems automate industrial tow tractors and cargo movers at airports.
BioRobotics Laboratory, Korea University of Technology and Education
Korea, Republic of (South)
South Korean university research laboratory focusing on haptics, exoskeletons, rehabilitation robotics, and autonomous ground vehicles.
McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute
Canada
Hamilton, Ontario applied manufacturing research center at McMaster University; runs a 21,000 sq ft facility with seven research labs.
Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
United States
The REC Foundation is a US nonprofit that runs VEX-based robotics and drone competitions reaching 1.1 million students across 70 countries.
Vicon Motion Systems
United Kingdom
UK motion capture technology leader; Valkyrie & Vantage camera systems for robotics, life sciences, entertainment & engineering.
Pendulum Systems
United States
Seattle AI software company delivering device-native alt-PNT navigation for GPS-denied environments across drones, defense, and supply chains.
Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH
Germany
Karlsruhe, Germany precision motion maker founded 1970; builds piezo actuators, nanopositioning stages, and hexapod robots; being acquired by HOERBIGER in 2026.
Machine Vision Lighting Inc.
Japan
Tokyo firm whose patented VISA-Method lighting delivers uniform illumination and one-step 3-D imaging for machine-vision inspection.
Tangram Vision
United States
Perception infrastructure software and hardware company enabling reliable sensor calibration and integration for robotics and autonomous systems.
CHINGMU VISION 上海青瞳视觉科技有限公司
China
Shanghai-based developer of optical motion capture systems for robotics, film, biomechanics, and rehabilitation applications.
Robotics needs a service framework.
RSF defines a common language for robot service capability, lifecycle operations, certification pathways, and service-provider networks.
Join the RobotToday community on LinkedIn
Daily robotics news, in-depth analysis, conference highlights, and discussions with professionals worldwide.
