22-05-2025
NASA Perseverance Rover Strikes A Selfie With Mars Dust Devil
NASA's Perseverance took this selfie on May 10 along the rim of the Jezero crater.
Unbothered. In its lane. Focused. Dusty. Fabulous. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took some time away from its science work to snap a superb selfie from its perch on the rim of the Jezero Crater. The rover wasn't alone. A peppy dust devil danced in the background.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab shared two versions of the rover selfie on May 21. The portraits show the rover parked on a rocky hill. In one shot, the rover 'looks' at the camera with its head-like mast. In the other, it looks toward the ground where a small hole marks a spot where the rover drilled for a rock sample.
The photobombing dust devil can be seen in the distance as a light-colored puff near the middle of the image. 'The well-illuminated scene and relatively clear atmosphere allowed us to capture a dust devil located 3 miles to the north in Neretva Vallis,' said Perseverance imaging lead Justin Maki in a statement.
The small dark hole in the rock in front of the rover is the borehole made when Perseverance ... More collected its latest sample. The small puff of dust left of center and below the horizon line is a dust devil.
NASA shared an annotated version of the image pointing out the dust devil, the sample hole, an American flag on the rover and the rover's tracks behind it.
Dust devils are common on Mars. NASA's rovers keep an eye out for dust devil activity. Perseverance even captured extraordinary footage of a larger dust devil consuming a smaller one in January.
The rover snapped the selfie on May 10 to celebrate its 1,500th sol on the red planet. A sol is a Martian day. It works out to about 24 hours and 39 minutes, so a sol is slightly longer than an Earth day.
This is Perseverance's fifth selfie since it arrived on Mars in early 2021. The rover landed inside the Jezero Crater and has since worked its way up to the crater rim. It's spent about five months exploring an area nicknamed Witch Hazel Hill. The region has delivered some geological surprises, like these 'shocking spherules' Perseverance investigated in March.
Taking a selfie on Mars is no easy feat. Perseverance used its Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering camera to snap 59 images that could be stitched together into the full selfie. WATSON is located at the end of the rover's robotic arm. WATSON took three more snaps for the shot where Percy looked down toward the ground.
The Perseverance team had to plan out each shot. 'That means we had to make 62 precision movements of the robotic arm,' said Perseverance imaging scientist Megan Wu. 'The whole process takes about an hour, but it's worth it. Having the dust devil in the background makes it a classic. This is a great shot.'
Selfies aren't just for fun. The rover team uses them to assess the rover and monitor how much dust has gathered on the vehicle and its instruments. Mars is notoriously dusty. NASA's Opportunity rover and InSight lander succumbed to dust-covered solar panels. Unlike its dearly departed helicopter companion Ingenuity, Perseverance doesn't rely on solar. It's essentially powered by a nuclear battery.
Perseverance received a thumbs-up health report from its team. 'After 1,500 sols, we may be a bit dusty, but our beauty is more than skin deep,' said Art Thompson, Perseverance project manager. Thompson said the rover has all the power it needs, that all systems are in the green and that Perseverance is set to 'feed scientific discoveries for years to come.' That's worth a celebratory Mars selfie.
