“NASA has given its Perseverance Mars rover a powerful new ability to determine its exact location on the Red Planet without waiting for instructions from Earth, effectively giving the six-wheeled explorer its own version of GPS…

with the new upgrade, called Mars Global Localization, Perseverance can match its own panoramic imagery to orbital terrain maps onboard, calculate its precise position and continue along its planned route without waiting for Earth-based confirmation.

An onboard algorithm performs the comparison in about two minutes and can pinpoint the rover’s location to within roughly 10 inches (25 centimeters), all without assistance from human planners, NASA said. This capability allows the rover to travel significantly farther, increasing the amount of terrain it can explore and the science it can conduct, scientists say.”

From Space.com.