NASA Curiosity rover took a gorgeous Mars selfie to mark a daring climb
Dear Earth, Mars is beautiful. Love, Curiosity.
NASA's Curiosity rover is on top of the world.
That world happens to be Mars, and "the top" is a perch on a sloping rock layer called Greenheugh Pediment. Before the rover attempted the daring climb up the pediment, it took a moment to mark the occasion with a new selfie snapped on Feb. 26.
The pediment is visible just above the rover in the image "It took three drives to scale the hill, the second of which tilted the rover 31 degrees-- the most the rover has ever tilted on Mars and just shy of the now-inactive Opportunity rover's 32-degree tilt record, set in 2016," NASA said in a release on Friday.
If you're curious how Curiosity manages to take selfies on Mars, then check out NASA's new video about the process, which requires using the robotic arm to capture 86 images. Those images are then stitched together to create the final selfie.
The rover is now sitting pretty at the top of Greenheugh Pediment and is working at a new drill site.
Curiosity is NASA's only functioning rover on Mars at the moment, but it will hopefully soon be joined by Perseverance, which is scheduled to launch in July.
Curiosity has been in residence on Mars since 2012 and it continues to seek out signs of ancient microbial life. The rover's ongoing series of selfies helps to put its efforts into perspective. We made a machine. We put it on Mars. It's doing fine.
