NASA's self-driving rover navigates field of boulders on Mars

Using its self-driving autonomous navigation system, called AutoNav, NASA's Perseverance rover recently traversed a field of boulders much faster than previous rovers could have.

Perseverance entered the eastern edge of the more than 1,700 feet wide (about a half-kilometre) field nicknamed, Snowdrift Peak, on June 26 and exited the western edge of the boulder field on July 31, logging 2,490 feet (759 meters).

"If you take out the sols (Martian days) dedicated to mission science, the traverse through Snowdrift Peak only took six autonomous drive sols, which is probably 12 sols faster than Curiosity would have taken,” said Del Sesto, deputy rover planner lead for Perseverance at JPL in Southern California.

Compared to other Mars rovers, Perseverance packs several advantages - faster cameras that allow the rover to take images quickly enough to process its route in real-time, and an additional computer dedicated entirely to image processing, eliminating the need to pause to decide its next move.

A self-driving rover on Mars?@NASAPersevere recently navigated a field of boulders using AutoNav, a self-driving system. The rover still relies on humans to plan its general routes but navigated the finer points on its own. https://t.co/Ewq0m8mvWv pic.twitter.com/SLkkN62b5w

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) September 21, 2023

Perseverance's autonomous navigation system has allowed it to set new records for off-roading on the rugged Martian terrain, including a single-day drive distance of 1140.7 feet (347.7 meters) and the longest drive without human review - 2296.2 feet (699.9 meters).

Earlier this month, the Perseverance Mars rover kicked off its fourth science campaign by crossing Mandu Wall - a rolling ridgeline separating two geologic units along the inner edge of the western rim of the Jezero Crater where the rover landed in February 2021. According to orbital data, this area is filled with carbonates - a mineral which typically forms in the shallow shoals of freshwater or alkaline lakes on Earth.

Carbonates can offer insights into Mars’ environmental history as well as preserve signs of ancient microbial life if any existed in the area in the past.