NASA’s Perseverance rover has reached a major milestone on Mars by covering the equivalent of a full marathon, or 26.2 miles, according to ScienceDaily.
The rover reached the distance after five years and four months of driving, hitting the mark on the 1,890th Martian day, or sol, of its mission. NASA’s previous record-holder, Opportunity, took 11 years and two months to travel the same distance.
A new image taken on June 13, 2026, by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Perseverance as a small green speck on the Martian surface just one day before it officially reached the marathon milestone. The photo also shows the winding tracks left behind by the rover.
At the time the image was captured, Perseverance was operating west of Jezero Crater in an area the mission team calls Arbot. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory oversees operations for both Perseverance and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
