Say cheese! Mars rover Curiosity snaps amazing self-portrait

During its 84 and 85 day (sol) on Mars, Curiosity snapped this newest mosaic self-portrait. / NASA / JPL-Caltech

NASA has snapped its most amazing self-portrait yet of the Curiosity rover on Mars, showing the robot posing with its ultimate destination: a huge Martian mountain.

The new view of Curiosity on Mars is actually a mosaic of dozens of high-definition color photos taken by the rover between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The image shows Curiosity surrounded by the tracks of its wheels, with the 3-mile-high (5 kilometers) Mount Sharp rising into the sky in the distance.

NASA featured the latest Curiosity portrait as its image of the day Thursday (Dec. 27) after releasing the photo earlier this month.

The prominent Mount Sharp is the central peak of Curiosity's vast Gale Crater landing site. Another mountain in the image, on the rover's left, makes up the northern wall of the expansive crater.

To create the eye-popping Mars photo, Curiosity used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a powerful camera mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Curiosity turned the camera on itself much like a human tourist might when traveling alone, snapping a series of photos that rover team members then stitched together into a high-definition composite view.

The rover had to move its robotic arm through more than 50 positions in a single day to capture its entire car-size body on camera. NASA scientists used a test version of Curiosity on Earth to practice the Martian photo session.

NASA unveiled an earlier version of Curiosity portrait, composed out of 55 separate images, in early November, but the latest view includes significantly more detail and a wider view.

The Mars rover Curiosity is headed toward a spot near the base of Mount Sharp called Glenelg, and will continue to perform experiments along the way. The $2.5 billion rover's primary mission is to determine if its Gale crater landing site could have ever supported primitive microbial life.

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[shurch4truth]

Would someone please explain why you can't see the robotic ame that holds the camera.

Dear CBS - it would be really nice for you to explain how that is done.

[dantedressage]

What is hidden behind the blacked-out sections?
There is a theory things are hidden from us by NASA...

[hbullis]

Why do I not see its arm out stretched in the picture?

[CuriousServant]

Because it is a mosaic shot. The arm isn't included in the mosaic since that is what takes the picture.

[bobnjersey]

[The $2.5 billion rover's primary mission is to determine if its Gale crater landing site could have ever supported primitive microbial life ... snapping a series of photos that rover team members then stitched together into a high-definition composite view]
--------------------------------------------------
if they don't actually find any microbial life ... they can always 'stitch some together into a composite view' ... and say they did.

[arkajun-2009]

Excuse me but I must have missed the part about how much money is costs for this little metal bug to feed its ego with yet another photo op. I would think it has better things to do. Like look for water or life or something.

[CuriousServant]

The pictures are incidental to the mission. They take what is being shot while it is performing its other tasks. The photo mosaic is just a side thing so we can see what it looks like.

[longtime2123]

What else is there to take a picture of? What I would like to see is it driving by a rusting old 64 Chevy pickup resting on it's roof top.

[CRLyle]

It sure does spend alot of it's time up there taking pictures of itself.

[enlightenu]

This thing takes more self portraits than a 16 year old girl.

[gbgentleman]

And costs about as much as well.