When the Perseverance rover arrived on Mars nearly five years ago, NASA officials thought the next American lander to target the Red Planet was already taking shape.
At the time, space agency leaders expected the next lander to be ready for launch as early as 2026—or, more likely, 2028. Its mission was to collect samples of Martian rocks collected by the Perseverance rover, which was then billed as the first stage of a multibillion-dollar campaign to return samples from Mars.
We're on the cusp of 2026, and there are no sample retrieval missions near the launch site. In fact, no one is building such a landing module at all. NASA's strategy for the Mars Sample Return, or MSR, mission remains undecided after the projected cost of the original plan. grew to $11 billion.. If MSR happens at all, it is unlikely to be launched before the 2030s.
This means the Perseverance rover, which in some circumstances may have to transfer samples to a future lander, will have to continue to endure the harsh, cold and dusty environment of Mars. The good news is that the robot, about the size of a small SUV, is in excellent health, according to Steve Lee, deputy project manager for Perseverance at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
“Perseverance is approaching five years of Mars exploration,” Lee said at a press briefing Wednesday at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. “Perseverance really in great shape. All on-board systems work and work very, very well. All redundant systems on board are still available, and the rover is capable of carrying out this mission for many, many years.”
Rover operators at JPL are counting on maintaining Perseverance's good health. The rover's six wheels carried it about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers. landing inside the 28-mile (45-kilometer) wide Jezero Crater in February 2021.. This is double the original certification for the rover's mobility system and further than any vehicle has traveled on the surface of another world.
This color-enhanced mosaic consists of three separate images taken on September 8, 2025, each captured by the Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z instrument. The images were processed to improve visual contrast and enhance color differences. The image shows a location known as Mont Musard and another region called Lac des Charmes, where the rover team will look for additional rock core samples to collect in the coming year. The mountains in the distance are about 52 miles (84 kilometers) away.
Aiming for 100
Now engineers are demanding performance beyond expectations from Perseverance. An assessment of the rover's condition showed that it could operate until at least 2031. The rover uses a power source made from radioactive plutonium, so it is not in danger of running out of electricity or fuel anytime soon. The Curiosity rover, which uses a similar design, has operated on Mars for more than 13 years.
