Nasa's new Mars rover hits the dusty red road, puts 6.4 metres on the odometer

Perseverance takes its first drive on Mars after landing on February 18. Photo / Nasa

Nasa's newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 6.4 metres on the odometer in its first test drive.

The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position yesterday, two weeks after landing on the red planet to seek signs of past life.

The roundabout, back and forth drive lasted just 33 minutes and went so well that the six-wheeled rover is back on the move today.

During a news conference today, Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shared photos of the tire tracks over and around small rocks.

A composite image produced from photos captured on February 21 by the Perseverance rover shows the rim of Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars. Image / Nasa

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"I don't think I've ever been happier to see wheel tracks and I've seen a lot of them," said engineer Anais Zarafian. "This is just a huge milestone for the mission."

As soon as the system checks on Perseverance are complete, the rover will head for an ancient river delta to collect rocks for return to Earth a decade from now.

Scientists are debating whether to take the smoother route to get to the nearby delta or a possibly tougher way with intriguing remnants from that once-watery time 3 billion to 4 billion years ago.

A high-resolution photo of the surface of Mars taken by China's Tianwen-1 probe as it orbits the red planet. Photo / CNSA via AP

Two days ago, China's first Mars probe - Tianwen-1, which arrived in the Martian parking orbit on February 26 - sent back new images of Earth's planetary neighbour.

The pictures include two panchromatic images and one colour image.