There is no GPS at the Red Planet, but a new technology called Mars Global Localization lets Perseverance determine precisely where it is \u2014 without human help.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine you\u2019re all alone, driving along in a rocky, unforgiving desert with no roads, no map, no GPS, and no more than one phone call a day for someone to inform you exactly where you are. That\u2019s what NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover has been experiencing since landing on Mars five years ago. Though it carries time-tested tools for determining its general location, the rover has needed operators on Earth to tell it precisely where it is \u2014 until now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A new technology developed at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California enables Perseverance<\/a> to figure out its whereabouts without calling humans for help. Dubbed Mars Global Localization<\/a>, the technology features an algorithm that rapidly compares panoramic images from the rover\u2019s navigation cameras with onboard orbital terrain maps. Running on a powerful processor that Perseverance originally used to communicate with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter<\/a>, the algorithm takes about two minutes to pinpoint the rover\u2019s location within some 10 inches (25 centimeters). Mars Global Localization was first used successfully in regular mission operations on Feb. 2, then again Feb. 16.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is kind of like giving the rover GPS. Now it can determine its own location on Mars,\u201d said JPL\u2019s Vandi Verma, chief engineer of robotics operations for the mission. \u201cIt means the rover will be able to drive for much longer distances autonomously, so we\u2019ll explore more of the planet and get more science. And it could be used by almost any other rover traveling fast and far.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The upgrade is especially valuable given how well Perseverance\u2019s auto-navigation self-driving system<\/a> has been working. Enabling the rover to re-plan its path around obstacles en route to a preestablished destination, AutoNav<\/a> has proved so capable that the distance Perseverance can drive without instructions from Earth is largely limited by the rover\u2019s uncertainty about its whereabouts. Now that it can stop and determine its exact location, Perseverance can be commanded to drive to potentially unlimited distances without calling home.\u00a0\u00a0Implementation of Mars Global Localization comes on the heels of another innovation from the Perseverance team: the first use of generative artificial intelligence to help plan a drive route<\/a> by selecting waypoints for the rover, which are normally chosen by human rover operators. Both technologies enable Perseverance to travel farther and faster while minimizing team workload.<\/p>\n Unlike on Earth, there is no network of GPS satellites in deep space to locate spacecraft on planetary surfaces. So missions \u2014 whether robotic or crewed \u2014 must come up with other ways to determine their location.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As with NASA\u2019s previous Mars rovers, Perseverance tracks its position using what\u2019s called visual odometry, analyzing geologic features in camera images taken every few feet while accounting for wheel slippage. But as tiny errors in the process add up over the course of each drive, the rover becomes increasingly unsure about its exact location. On long drives, the rover\u2019s sense of its position can be off by more than 100 feet (up to 35 meters). Believing it may be too close to hazardous terrain, Perseverance may prematurely end its drive and wait for instructions from Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHumans have to tell it, \u2018You\u2019re not lost, you\u2019re safe. Keep going,\u2019\u201d Verma said. \u201cWe knew if we addressed this problem, the rover could travel much farther every day.\u201d<\/p>\n After each drive comes to a halt, the rover sends a 360-degree panorama to Earth, where mapping experts match the imagery with shots from NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter<\/a> (MRO). The team then sends the rover its location and instructions for its next drive. That process can take a day or more, but with Mars Global Localization, the rover is able to compare the images itself, determine its location, and roll ahead on its preplanned route.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve given the rover a new ability,\u201d said Jeremy Nash, a JPL robotics engineer who led the team working on the project under Verma. \u201cThis has been an open problem in robotics research for decades, and it\u2019s been super\u00a0exciting to deploy this solution in space for the first time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The small team began working in 2023, testing the accuracy of the algorithm they\u2019d developed using data from 264 previous rover stops. The algorithm compared rover panoramic photos to MRO imagery and correctly pinpointed the rover\u2019s location for every single stop.<\/p>\n Key to Mars Global Localization is the rover\u2019s Helicopter Base Station<\/a> (HBS), which Perseverance used to communicate with the now-retired Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Equipped with a commercial processor that powered many consumer smartphones in the mid-2010s, the HBS runs more than 100 times faster than the rover\u2019s two main computers<\/a>, which, built to survive the radiation-heavy Martian environment, are based on hardware introduced in 1997.<\/p>\n As a technology demonstration<\/a> designed to test capabilities, the Ingenuity mission was able to risk employing more powerful commercial chips in the HBS and the helicopter even though they hadn\u2019t been proven in space. It paid off: Expected to fly no more than five times, the rotorcraft completed 72 flights<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The power of the HBS processor inspired Verma to look for ways the Perseverance mission might harness it. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a gift. Ingenuity blazed the trail, proving we could use commercial processors on Mars,\u201d Verma said.<\/p>\n Tapping into the HBS computer has had its challenges. To address reliability, the team developed a \u201csanity check\u201d: The algorithm runs on the HBS multiple times before one of the rover\u2019s main computers checks to ensure the results match. During testing, the team repeatedly found the rover\u2019s position was off by 1 millimeter. They discovered damage to about 25 bits \u2014 a minuscule fraction of the processor\u2019s 1 gigabyte of memory \u2014 and developed a solution to isolate those bits while the algorithm runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside the broader Mars Global Localization process, the team\u2019s sanity check and memory solutions are expected to find new uses as faster commercial processors are employed in future missions. In the meantime, the team has already turned their sights to the Moon, where difficult lighting conditions and long, cold lunar nights make knowing exactly where spacecraft are located all the more critical.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover on behalf of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, as part of NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To learn more\u00a0about Perseverance:<\/p>\n https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/mars-2020-perseverance<\/a><\/p>\n News Media Contacts<\/p>\n Melissa Pamer\u00a0\/ DC Agle\u00a0 Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser 2026-012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no GPS at the Red Planet, but a new technology called Mars Global Localization lets Perseverance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,11708,2758,4750,4751,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-298198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","11":"tag-mars","12":"tag-perseverance-rover","13":"tag-planetary-science-division","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928\u00a0\/ 818-393-9011
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n