Take A Peek Of NASA's Robot Selfie On Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover just took a photo. (photo: NASA)

JAKARTA - NASA's Curiosity rover just took a selfie while he was on Mars. He was right above the rock-and-sand terrain shrouded in the hot air of the Red Planet.

Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 and continues to explore Gale Crater in search of evidence that the Red Planet is habitable. This robot is quite different from the others.

Because it is notorious for taking selfies along the way, this time Curiosity offers beautiful views of two landmarks, a rock formation called Greenheugh pediment to the left, behind the rover, and a hill called Mount Rafael Navarro in the center-right of the photo.

Curiosity took its latest 360-degree selfie last November 20, which was the 3303rd Mars day, of the rover mission. This portrait consists of 81 individual images put together, taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), which is located at the end of the rover's robotic arm.

NASA shared Curiosity's latest selfie up close and wide on November 29, featuring a gorgeous view of Mars with the Sun shining in the sky. The image highlights the rust-red color of the Martian surface, along with the varied and rugged terrain surrounding the rover.

The photo also captures a view of Mount Sharp, a 3.4-mile (5.5-kilometer) high mountain that Curiosity has explored since 2014. Explorers have traversed Mount Sharp in search of clues to the Red Planet's past, in particular. when the relatively warm and wet world turned to the cold desert it is today.

Previously, Curiosity had photographed Mount Rafael Navarro on Mars in April 2021, at which time the hill was named after former astrobiologist, Rafael Navarro-González, who worked on the mission until his death on January 26.

Around the same time in April, the robot rover climbed the Greenheugh Pediment and captured the view from above the rock formations. Now, Curiosity heads down a narrow passage called Maria Gordon Notch, which is the U-shaped opening captured behind the rover on the left in the photo.