Skip to main content

NASA’s other Mars rover posts stunning selfie beside a rocky outcrop

Curiosity's Selfie at Mont Mercou
Click Image to Enlarge (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

With NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover currently getting all the attention, it’s easy to forget that the space agency also has another vehicle trundling across the red planet.

Curiosity has been exploring the Martian surface since 2012, conducting various investigations while also posting plenty of fascinating imagery from the faraway location.

Its latest effort is an impressively clear selfie that also includes a 6-meter-high rock formation that scientists have dubbed “Mont Mercou” after a French mountain close to the village of Nontron in the southeast of the country.

“The team chose Nontron-related nicknames for this part of the red planet because Mars orbiters detected nontronite, a type of clay mineral found close to Nontron, in the region,” NASA explained. “Surface missions assign nicknames to landmarks to provide the mission’s team members a common way to refer to rocks, soils, and other geologic features of interest.”

Curiosity's 3D View of Mont 'Mercou': NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam instrument to take the 32 individual images that make up this panorama of the outcrop nicknamed “Mont Mercou.” It took a second panorama to create a stereoscopic view. Both panoramas were taken on March 4, 2021, the 3,049th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Close to Curiosity is also the spot where the rover drilled the mission’s 30th sample to date. After gathering the particles, Curiosity turned them to powder before carefully transferring the sample into instruments inside the rover. Next, the mission’s science team back on Earth will analyze the sample remotely in a bid to better understand the rock’s composition and see if it unlocks any secrets about Mars’ past.

Curiosity’s latest selfie comprises 60 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the rover’s robotic arm. These were combined with 11 images captured by the Mastcam on the head of the rover. The combination of images meant NASA could edit them in a way to make it look as if the “camera” taking the shot is detached from the rover (ie. there’s no selfie stick in sight!). And it’s not the first selfie Curiosity has taken during its time on the planet. Check out this one and this one, for example.

As Curiosity continues with its work, Perseverance, which landed on the red planet in spectacular fashion in February 2021, is about to begin its mission in earnest, exploring its new home for signs of ancient life. In the coming days, it’s also expected to deploy Ingenuity, a small helicopter-like contraption that’s set to become the first aircraft to fly on another planet.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA declares Mars InSight lander mission officially over
This illustration shows NASA's InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface.

Just over four years after reaching Mars, NASA has officially announced the end of its InSight lander mission.

The declaration came on Wednesday, December 21, after NASA failed to make contact with the lander across two consecutive attempts, leading the mission team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to conclude that InSight’s solar-powered batteries had run out of energy, a state referred to as “dead bus.”

Read more
Final messages from NASA’s Mars lander will bring a tear to your eye
A view from NASA's InSight lander showing its wind and thermal shield covering some of its science instruments.

The last image from NASA's InSight lander shows the wind and thermal shield covering some of its science instruments. NASA

It’s been known for some time that NASA’s InSight Lander was coming to the end of its operations on Mars after four years of service. And it looks as if its final communication with Earth has just taken place.

Read more
How will NASA keep Mars astronauts safe from cosmic radiation? Here’s the plan
AstroRad Vest

The Artemis I mission, which recently completed a historic test flight around the moon, didn't have any astronauts on board -- but it did have two very special passengers: Helga and Zohar, a pair of highly anatomically detailed dummy torsos, one of which wore a special radiation shielding vest for the journey. Their mission? Measure radiation exposure in deep space and determine whether a vest can help protect astronauts from the unseen dangers of space.

 

Read more