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Both Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit had a top speed of 180 meters/hour on flat hard ground, but their hazard avoidance software caused them to stop every 10 seconds for 20 seconds to observe and understand the terrain into which they had driven, so their average speed was 36 m/h.

Curiosity could travel up to 90 m/h but its average speed was 30 m/h, and its maximum terrain-traverse speed was estimated to be 200 m/sol.

What was the longest distance in one sol each rover drove, and when? Please provide references for the answers.

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  • $\begingroup$ The answers are in "Robotic Exploration of the Solar System: Part 3" but I just returned that to the library last week! $\endgroup$
    – Camille Goudeseune
    Commented Sep 29, 2019 at 1:55

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I have an answer for only the MERs and MSL. I have no idea how to find this information for Sojourner.

For Curiosity: 144.04m on Sol 385 (source). I processed that data in excel, but I don't know how to upload an excel file. The data does include some sols with multiple traverses, but I accounted for that so the 144.04m figure is in fact the longest single day's drive.

For the MERs: I do not have a link, but I reached out to Dr. Raymond Arvidson, the deputy PI for the MERs. He reached out to his computer systems manager, who gave me the following email answer:

Hi Michael – The maximum distance that each MER travelled in a single day was: Spirit (MER-A) – 114.2m on sol 125, May 10, 2004 Opportunity (MER-B) – 228.1m on sol 410, March 20, 2005 Fun fact: the sol 410 drive was part of a sustained effort during which Opportunity drove an average of 191.2m on each of seven consecutive drive sols (406, 407, 408, 410, 412, 413, and 414).

So, kudos to both Ray Arvidson and Thomas Stein for the MER stuff.

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  • $\begingroup$ You could save the data as a comma separated value (csv) file and then copy-paste it to your answer. $\endgroup$
    – Paul
    Commented Sep 29, 2019 at 2:40
  • $\begingroup$ It is 717 lines long, though... $\endgroup$
    – Michael Stachowsky
    Commented Sep 29, 2019 at 19:10
  • $\begingroup$ Upload to Google DOC and copy-paste link to answer $\endgroup$
    – A. Rumlin
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 10:18
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    $\begingroup$ I see no need for sharing a spreadsheet. You have linked the data, and you have a numerical value for your answer. The processing can be reproduced by anyone. $\endgroup$
    – SE - stop firing the good guys
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 10:27
  • $\begingroup$ Sols 1127, 1260, 1512, 1591 and 1730 have more than one drive, for those wanting to rank them by distance driven. None of those are long enough combined to challenge Sol 385. $\endgroup$
    – SE - stop firing the good guys
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 10:40
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New Martian records for the Perseverance rover !

On sol 340 (Feb. 2, 2022) the rover drove 237.78 m, but the following day the driving distance was even 240.73 m. (according to the Perseverance location map}

Perseverance location
Screenshot from the location map

Again, on sol 351 (Feb. 14, 2022) a record-breaking distance of 313.83 m.

New record on sol 753 (April 3, 2023), 328.66 m.

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    $\begingroup$ Now that record is 367. Perseverance will probably beat it's own record several times in the coming weeks. $\endgroup$
    – usernumber
    Commented Feb 22, 2022 at 18:13

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