PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has officially broken the record for the farthest distance traveled by an exploration vehicle anywhere in the solar system outside of Earth.

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) cited by The New York Times on the 12th (local time), Perseverance's cumulative driving distance surpassed 28.06 miles (approximately 45.2 kilometers).

This milestone marks the total distance covered since the rover touched down on Mars in February 2021, exploring the Jezero Crater and its surrounding terrain.

With this achievement, Perseverance has surpassed the previous record held by Opportunity, a smaller NASA rover that explored Mars from 2004 until communication was lost in 2018.

Roughly the size of a car, Perseverance features advanced autonomous driving technology, allowing it to navigate around obstacles and chart paths to destinations without requiring step-by-step instructions from Earth.

Mission operators originally anticipated that Perseverance would break the record back in August. However, the rover paused its drive for about two months to investigate a patch of light-colored rocks that could be the oldest rocks ever studied on Mars.

Originally certified to travel 20 kilometers before its launch, NASA is currently working to expand Perseverance's certified driving range to 100 kilometers.

Matthew Wallace, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, expressed optimism about the rover's future, stating, "If it keeps moving like this, we think going beyond 100 kilometers is entirely possible."

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]