While NASA's Mars rover Perseverance travels through space toward the Red Planet, its nearly identical rover twin is hard at work on Earth. The vehicle system test bed (VSTB) rover named OPTIMISM is a full-scale engineering version of the Mars-bound rover. It is used to test hardware and software before the commands are sent up to the Perseverance rover.

Just like Perseverance, OPTIMISM is outfitted with wheels, cameras, and computers to help it drive autonomously. After taking its first drive indoors, the VSTB rover took a spin in the Mars Yard, a dirt field which simulates the Red Planet's surface.

OPTIMISM is stationed in a garage at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, sharing a space with Curiosity's twin rover MAGGIE.

The Perseverance rover is set to land on the surface of Mars on February 18, 2021.

For more information on the mission, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech