The Perseverance rover just crushed a new record on Mars

The Perseverance rover set a new record for the longest distance traveled on Mars by rovers in a day.

A day on Mars is longer than a day on Earth by about forty minutes and is called a "sol." On February 4th, 2022, the Perseverance rover traveled 245.76 meters (806.3 feet), a new record for the longest trek by a rover on Mars in one sol, after setting a new record in the preceding days with a 243.3-meter journey.

The previous record was held by NASA's Opportunity rover, which traveled 214 meters (702 feet) in one sol in 2015. The new records came after the rover recovered from a blockage caused by Martian rock samples it had collected. Now, it is undertaking a multi-kilometer drive to a nearby delta.

"The science team has been hard at work preparing for our next phase of science operations, which will take us towards the western delta. To prepare, the team has been taking long-distance observations of the delta and layers along Artuby ridge with both the Mastcam-Z and SuperCam instruments," NASA wrote in a blog post.

Looking forward, after we finish sampling at this location, Perseverance will move back to Artuby ridge where we'll undertake proximity science at a location known as "Rimplas," the blog post continued.