Curiosity Rover Takes “Selfies” As She Explores Martian Sand Dunes for the First Time

Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 1228

The Curiosity rover on Mars is such a millennial. I mean, she’s up on Mars taking selfies right now. She’s even got a selfie stick for an arm. Now that’s going a little overboard, don’t you think?

Actually, this is all in a day’s work for Curiosity as she makes her way across The Bagnold Dune Field toward Mt. Sharp, which is Curiosity’s main target for its mission. On the way, she’s been stopping to take photos, and thanks to photographer Andrew Bodrov, we are able to see 57 “selfies” that Curiosity took stitched together in the awesome panoramic shot that you can check out above.

This is the first time ever that we’ve had the opportunity to do close-up studies of active sand dunes anywhere besides Earth, and just as exciting as the photos, are the fact that Curiosity has also started sampling sand from the sand dunes this month, sending these baby aspirin-sized samples to the on-board chemistry lab, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM). Just think of all the information she’ll be able to get back to us by being able to analyze that sand!

You know what, Curiosity? You take all the selfies you want. You’re working hard out there. No reason you can’t play hard, too!

And yes, Curiosity is a girl in my brain. So there.

(via Universe Today, featured image via 2di7 & titanio44/Flickr)

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