Perseverance rover sets a Martian speed record with software controls

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has set a speed record by traversing a massive boulder field in a third the time it would have taken its predecessor Curiosity. That isn't to say Perseverance is fast - to traverse Snowdrift Peak, a rocky region in the Jezero Crater the rover entered on June 26, it still took more than a month, …

[Anonymous Coward]

Comparing months and weeks...

This is a bit crazy in the editorial:

[quote #1]

"That isn't to say Perseverance is fast - to traverse Snowdrift Peak, a rocky region in the Jezero Crater the rover entered on June 26, it still took more than a month, with Perseverance emerging on the far side July 31 and ready to roll."

[quote #2]

"...said Tyler Del Sesto, deputy rover planner lead for Perseverance and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We didn't want to go around it because it would have taken us weeks."

Doesn't someone realise that "more than a month" is very similar to "weeks" ???

[Paul Kinsler]

Re: Doesn't someone realise that "more than a month" is very similar to "weeks" ???

Perhaps that that "weeks" was (or would have been) "weeks only driving and doing no science", but the "month" included both driving and science...?

[Youngone]

Re: Comparing months and weeks...

A month of Sundays is longer than a wet week I think.

[Philo T Farnsworth]

Yes, humans might be faster. . .

I have to take issue with the subhed for this item '347.7 meters in a day - humans could probably do better'.

That may be true but the instant a human lands on the surface of Mars is is "game over" in the quest to determine whether there is or, more likely, ever was life on the planet.

There is no conceivable way that you can make a human-carrying spacecraft clean enough to eliminate it contaminating the surface of Mars with the human genome. Once that happens, there is no way to ever tell wheither there was life on the planet prior to humans landing there.

And, besides, even though 347.7 meters a day might be a relative snail's pace, Perserverance doesn't need complicated life support systems and all the extra necessities to support human life.

Robots thus far have underpromised and overdelivered.

[You aint sin me, roit]

Re: Yes, humans might be faster. . .

I saw a documentary about terraforming Mars...

Just before the ancient reactor started melting the ice caps releasing enough of an atmosphere to support human life, Arnie was having quite a hard time. The way his face was exploding I doubt he'd have lasted long enough to cover a couple of metres, let alone 300.

On Mars robots are better than people.

Arnie's face ------------------->

[Neil Barnes]

Does the rover ever look backwards?

Can't help feeling that behind the rover is a whole crowd of juvenile Martians, alternately giggling, saying 'shhh', and wondering why it's so slow.

[muddysteve]

Apparently there was life on Mars

until Curiosity got there - unfortunately, it was a cat....