NASA’s new rover on Mars hits the dusty red road, puts 6.4 meters on the odometer

NASA’s newest Mars rover hit the dusty red highway this week, putting 6.4 meters on the odometer on its first test drive.

The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position yesterday, two weeks after landing on the red planet to search for signs of past life.

The round-trip roundabout lasted only 33 minutes and went so smoothly that the six-wheeler was moving again today.

During a press conference today, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California shared photos of tire tracks on and around small rocks.

“I don’t think I was happier to see the wheel tracks and I have seen a lot of them,” said engineer Anais Zarafian. “This is just a big milestone for the mission.”

As soon as the system checks on perseverance are completed, the rover will head to an ancient river delta to collect rocks and return to Earth within a decade.

Scientists are debating whether to take the gentler route to the nearby delta or a possibly more difficult way with intriguing remains from that time that was once watery 3 billion to 4 billion years ago.

Two days ago, China’s first Mars probe, Tianwen-1, which reached Martian parking orbit on February 26, sent new images of Earth’s planetary neighbor.

The images include two panchromatic images and one color image.