Nasa has developed a new technology that allows Perseverance, its most recently deployed Mars rover, to locate itself on the planet with an accuracy within 25cm.
Though it carries tools it can use to determine its general location, until now the rover has needed operators on Earth to tell it precisely where it is. Previously Perseverance tracked its position using visual odometry by analysing geologic features in camera images taken every few feet while accounting for wheel slippage. But as tiny errors in the process added up over the course of each drive, the rover became increasingly unsure about its exact location.
This can be a problem when, due to planetary alignment, communication with Perseverance can be limited to just twice in a day, meaning it sometimes has to wait hours before the correct location data can be successfully received.
Researchers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have developed a new technology enabling Perseverance to calculate its whereabouts without the...