This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at “Namib Dune”, where the rover’s activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis.
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Long Story ShortNASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars took a break from investigating active sand dunes on the red planet to take an awesome selfie.
The rover typically collects sand and examines particles on Mars – and once a year it stops to sing “Happy Birthday” to itself – but the car-sized rover has also dedicated time to snapping pictures.
The pictures were taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera that is fitted at the end of the Curiosity’s arm.
Curiosity has been exploring the planet’s sand dunes since December 2015.
It was taken on 19 January, which was Curiosity’s 1,228th day on Mars. Meanwhile, when the processing was being undertaken, a sample-processing device’s actuator failed to operate in the desired manner. “The rover responded properly to this unexpected event”. JPL had designed the Curiosity Rover, and MAHLI is operated by the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. In case of movement, the team can use the rover’s wind measurements to figure out the strength and direction of the winds that caused the movement.
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In August, the rover snapped a breathtaking 92-image composite selfie while it drilled rock in search of signs of water on Mars.
