Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP) – The latest selfie from NASA's Patience Rover on Mars features an unexpected guest: a Mars Dust Devil.
It appears as a small pale puff, a dust devil that emerged 3 miles (5 km) behind the Rover while it was taking photos this month. According to NASA, the selfie published on Wednesday is a composite of 59 images captured by the camera at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
"The cameras are built for this," stated Megan Wu, an imaging scientist at Marine Space Science Systems.
"Having a dust devil in the background adds a classic touch," Wu remarked in a statement.
This image also highlights the rover’s most recent sample boreholes on the Martian surface and signifies 1,500 sols or Martian days for Patience, which translates to 1,541 days on Earth.
Patience is enveloped in red dust due to its excavation activities among various rocks. Launched in 2020, this sample is set to return to Earth from Jezero Crater, an ancient lake bed and river delta that may provide insights into past microbial life.
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Source: apnews.com