Hello Beacon readers! This weekend I have marathons on the brain as my hometown Cape Town hosts one. Eliud Kipchoge and the other runners may soon welcome an unlikely comrade to their ranks: NASA's Perseverance Rover has almost covered the official marathon distance on the surface of Mars. 

The robotic scout has been exploring the Martian surface for over half a decade, looking for signs of ancient life and collecting rock samples. 

These explorations amount to a distance of 26.09 miles (41.99 km) covered. The official marathon distance is 26.22 miles (42.2 km). Perseverance mission manager Robert Hogg expects the rover to exceed that distance in the next month.

Perseverance is not alone on Mars, Curiosity has traveled 22.93 miles (36.91 km), while the rover that logged the most mileage ⁠on the Martian surface was NASA's Opportunity with 28.06 miles (45.16 km) during its mission.

Got any global good news have you read this week that you would like to share? Running tips? Email me at beacon@thomsonreuters.com and I might feature it in a future edition.

Perseverance takes a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain.

"The rover continues in good health with at least a decade left in its power source. The duration of the mission will depend on choices NASA makes," said Ken Farley, Perseverance's deputy project scientist at Caltech.

Art and garbage came together in New York's Union Square, where officials and artists unveiled five sanitation trucks covered in colorful murals. Local artist Allison Bouganim called her design a "love letter" to the city's invisible workers.