Overview
- After nearly five years and almost 25 miles of driving, the rover is traversing beyond Jezero’s rim toward Lac de Charmes to target ancient bedrock and large impactites, including a potential megablock dubbed Hyha.
- Engineers certified the rotary actuators that turn the wheels for at least another 60 kilometers of driving, with brake testing in progress and most subsystems assessed as viable through 2031, according to results presented at AGU.
- Enhanced Autonomous Navigation software scans up to 15 meters ahead and has enabled more than 90% of the rover’s travel to be autonomous, contributing to a 411.7-meter single-day drive record on June 19, 2025.
- A new Science paper details Margin Unit results in Jezero’s inner rim, where three olivine-rich samples record interactions among magma, water, and a CO2-rich atmosphere that bear on Mars’ habitability.
- The team previously reported a core sample nicknamed Cheyava Falls with a potential fingerprint of past microbial life, underscoring the mission’s focus on collecting high-value samples for possible return to Earth.