(NewsNation) — NASA announced on Wednesday its Perseverance rover will keep exploring on Mars for the next several years.
According to the space agency, Perseverance has traveled nearly 25 miles since it arrived on the red planet in February 2021. Over the last two years, NASA engineers have been evaluating the rover’s subsystems and durability. As it currently stands, NASA estimates the rotary actuators, which keep the six-wheeled rover moving, “can perform optimally” for at least another 37 miles, or until the year 2031.
“These tests show the rover is in excellent shape,” said Steve Lee, Perseverance’s deputy project manager. “All the systems are fully capable of supporting a very long-term mission to extensively explore this fascinating region of Mars.”
Perseverance is currently making its way to a new region of Mars, nicknamed by scientists “Lac de Charmes.” Over the next year, the rover will search for rock samples in the region.
Most recently, NASA reports the rover has been crossing the Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake and river system. In September, the rover found rocks containing unusual chemical compounds near the crater, suggesting that life could have once existed on the planet.