“When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of the first drive,” wrote Anais Zarifian, the craft’s mobility test bed engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This was our first chance to ‘kick the tires’ and take Perseverance out for a spin. The rover’s six-wheel drive responded superbly. We are now confident our drive system is good to go, capable of taking us wherever the science leads us over the next two years.” Scroll near the 8-minute mark below for a first peek at the Martian ground that Perseverance already is leaving in its wake: