How Fast Is Mars Rover Driving?

NASA's Curiosity drives at about 4 cm per second — far slower than human walking pace. Signals from Earth take 14 minutes one way, so every move is pre-planned by mission control hours in advance. Perseverance is roughly 20% faster.

Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance carry small radiation-hardened computers running about as much processing power as a 2002 desktop PC — modern chips are too sensitive to cosmic rays.

• 35× slower than walking pace
• About half the speed of a tortoise walking