Rich Rieber, center, the lead mobility systems engineer for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, views a test rover at JPL’s Mars Yard with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (right) and JPL Director Mike Watkins (left) in 2018. Credit: NASA

NASA is turning increasingly to autonomy and machine learning to make the most out of Mars exploration missions, but don’t count on self-driving rovers to zip across the Red Planet anytime soon.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...