Can you spot Nasa's Perseverance rover in this latest pic from Mars? Hint inside

Nasa's Perseverance rover has driven more than 42 km on Mars, completing a marathon distance in record time. Here's why the milestone is significant and what it discovered.

In Short

• Perseverance rover drove over 42 km on Mars, matching a full Earth marathon
• Second rover to cover this distance, faster than Opportunity which took 11 years
• Rover explores Jezero Crater, seeking signs of past microbial life, collecting samples

Can you see it? Nasa's Perseverance rover is somewhere in that image, resting after breaking a record on Mars.

In a remarkable achievement, Perseverance has driven more than 42 kilometres on the surface of Mars, which is the exact distance of a full marathon on Earth.

The rover crossed this milestone on June 14, 2026, during its 1,890th Martian day, or "sol," after just five years and four months of exploration.

This makes Perseverance only the second rover in history to achieve such a feat on another planet. Not only that, Perseverance did so far quicker than its predecessor, Nasa's Opportunity rover, which took over 11 years to reach the same distance in 2015.

A TINY GLIMPSE OF A BROKEN RECORD

Just a day before hitting the milestone, on June 13, 2026, Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a stunning high-resolution image of Perseverance using its HiRISE camera.

In the photo, the car-sized rover appears as a tiny green speck on the reddish Martian surface, with its faint tracks clearly visible behind it.

The image was taken in a region west of Jezero Crater, which the science team calls "Arbot." This area features intriguing ancient terrain that the rover is studying closely.

WHAT IS JEZERO CRATER?

Mars is often called the "Red Planet" because of its rusty, iron-rich soil. It is a cold, dry world today, but scientists believe it was warmer and wetter billions of years ago, possibly with rivers, lakes, and conditions suitable for microbial life.

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, as part of Nasa's Mars 2020 mission. This 45-kilometre-wide crater once held a lake and a river delta; features that could have preserved signs of ancient life.

The rover's main jobs are to search for evidence of past microbes, study the planet's geology and climate, and collect rock and soil samples for a future mission to bring back to Earth.

Equipped with advanced cameras, drills, and scientific instruments, Perseverance acts like a robotic geologist, and has already found rocks that may have formed in environments friendly to life. The rover is now exploring beyond the crater's western edge.

Before we get into the latest achievement, here's a hint: Follow the track.

A RECORD BROKEN ON MARS

Unlike the Opportunity rover, which relied more on solar power and faced dust challenges, Perseverance uses a nuclear battery for reliable energy, allowing steadier progress across rough Martian landscapes.

The milestone highlights how far rover technology has come.

Earlier rovers like Spirit and Opportunity were pioneers, but Perseverance moves faster and smarter, helping scientists plan for future human missions to Mars.

As Perseverance continues its journey, every mile brings new discoveries about our neighbouring planet.

And this "Martian marathon" has turned out to not just be about distance but also about human curiosity pushing boundaries, one drive at a time.

In case you were not able to spot the record-breaker, here it is.

- Ends