Machine begins its exploration of Mars

It wiggled its wheel before undertaking its maiden Martian drive. The US space agency’s Perseverance rover moved 6.5m (21ft) in all and a significant move say Nasa.

“The minute the rover begins to move we can consider ourselves explorers on the Mars,” Nasa deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan said.

It is two weeks now since the one-tonne robot made its dramatic descent to the Red Planet. Engineers have spent the time commissioning the vehicle and its many complex systems, including its instruments and robotic arm.

The wait was but for Perseverance to start rolling and it has happened. The robot went forward a short way, spun on the spot 150 degrees, and then backed up a bit.

We’ve driven on Earth but driving on Mars – that’s the ultimate goal, and just so many people have worked towards this very moment for years.

Perseverance was put down in a near-equatorial crater called Jezero, to search for evidence of past life. This will involve roving some 15-kms over the coming Martian year, which is roughly two Earth years.

Scientists want to reach a number of enticing rock formations in the crater that might retain a record of ancient biological activity.

Among these is what looks in satellite imagery to be a delta – a structure built up from the silt and sand dumped by a river as it enters a wider body of water. In Jezero’s case, this wider body was very likely a crater-wide lake that existed billions of years ago.

The vehicle will spend the next few weeks driving from its present location to a suitable stretch of terrain where the 2kg device called Ingenuity can be put safely on the ground.

Perseverance is the fastest rover Nasa has ever put on Mars. The robot takes pictures to assess the road ahead. Previous vehicles had to stop while these pictures were processed on board. Perseverance can do this on the fly.