Summary Reader Response 4
In the articles, "Mars 2020 mission Perseverance rover" (n.d.), and "NASA’s Self-Driving Perseverance Mars Rover ‘Takes the Wheel’" (2021), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) documents the operation of the upgraded auto navigation system called AutoNav for the Perseverance rover to traverse the Martian surface for signs of ancient life along with locating and transporting sample collections of rock back to Earth for analysis. T he National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, 2021) article , states that the AutoNav enables the rover to autonomously drive at faster speeds of up to 120 meters per hour, in comparison to its predecessor Curiosity that travels at speeds of up to 20 meters per hour. Therefore, AutoNav’s speed is accelerated by four or five times to now more quickly perform 3D mapping of upcoming terrain, hazard identification, and trajectory planning for obstacle avoidance. Consequently, reducing the time taken to reach