Using autonomous navigation software first developed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity this week completed its first two-day autonomous drive, a new technique that enables the mobile laboratory to cover ground faster.

Since July, Curiosity has been on a 5.3-mile trek from where it worked for the first half of 2013 to the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, a 3.4-mile-high peak within the Gale Crater that is the rover’s next major science destination. Autonomous navigation software can quicken the pace by allowing the rover to safely drive itself across terrain not previously evaluated by human rover drivers on Earth.

“Autonomous navigation already has made it possible for the rover to extend its range each day, continuing to operate beyond the area we have been able to evaluate in advance,” said Maimone, who earned his Ph.D. in computer science at CMU and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Robotics Institute before joining JPL. “But what really matters is how far we can drive between planning cycles. Autonomous drives over multiple days will allow Curiosity to keep moving, even on weekends and holidays when staff members aren’t available.”