Nasa’s Mars Perseverance rover officially marked five years on the Red Planet, and it is celebrating this milestone with a massive technical upgrade.
Launched from Cape Canaveral on July 30, 2020, the rover arrived at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
Since then, it has been hunting for signs of ancient life on Mars, and collecting rock samples for a future return to Earth.
However, navigating Mars is not easy. Unlike Earth, the Red Planet does not have a GPS network of satellites to tell a robot exactly where it is.
For years, Perseverance relied on a system called visual odometry, which tracks movement by looking at rocks and soil.
While effective, this method creates small errors that add up over time. If the rover is unsure of its position by even 100 feet, it stops and waits for help from engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
HOW DOES THE ROVER NAVIGATE WITHOUT GPS?
To solve this, Nasa has introduced a technology called Mars Global Localization. This is a Martian version of Google Maps.
It uses an algorithm to compare panoramic photos taken by the rover with high-resolution maps captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) from space.
The system is incredibly fast. It can pinpoint the rover’s location within 25 centimetres in just two minutes.
This allows Perseverance to drive much longer distances without needing to check in with humans on Earth.
It has already been tested successfully during mission operations on February 2 and 16.
This means the rover can be commanded to drive potentially unlimited distances without calling home to ask for directions.
HOW DID A RETIRED HELICOPTER HELP PERSEVERANCE NAVIGATE?
Interestingly, this new capability was made possible by the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.
While the main computers on Perseverance are incredibly rugged, they use hardware from the late 1990s that is too slow for complex data processing.
To make the helicopter fly, Nasa had installed a separate unit on the rover called the Helicopter Base Station.
This station contains a commercial processor, similar to what you might find in a smartphone, which is 100 times faster than the rover’s main brain.
Since the helicopter has retired, engineers repurposed this fast computer to run the new navigation algorithm.
It processes the heavy visual data in seconds, a task that would have overwhelmed the older hardware.
By borrowing the helicopter’s brain, Perseverance can now pinpoint its location almost instantly.
Engineers have even started using generative artificial intelligence on this system to help plan driving routes.
As it enters its sixth year, Perseverance is more independent than ever, proving that even a lonely robot in a desert can find its way.
