NASA Curiosity rover snaps eye-catching selfie on Mars

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NASA’s Curiosity rover has just sent us what is arguably the best images of Mars to date. Josh King has the story (@abridgetoland). Buzz60

This composite image made from a series of Jan. 23, 2018 photos shows a self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Vera Rubin Ridge. The rover's arm which held the camera was positioned out of each of the dozens of shots which make up the mosaic.(Photo: AP)

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover — sent to the Red Planet seven years ago to find evidence of life — snapped a captivating photo of itself in late January.

In the Jan. 23 photo, Curiosity appears on Vera Rubin Ridge, where it has spent months exploring. All around it is a vast expanse of Mars' surface. The rover will climb the slope behind it in the coming weeks as part of its exploration there.

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Behind the vehicle is Mount Sharp, the lower part of which scientists want to examine because of its many layers formed over millions of years.

"These layers formed in the presence of water — likely due to a lake or lakes where sediments accumulated, which formed these layers inside Gale Crater," said NASA, referring to the 3-mile-high mound. 

NASA deems the Curiosity the "largest and most capable" rover ever to make contact with Mars. It's about the size of a car, has a seven-foot-long arm, carries 10 science instruments, 17 cameras and a laser to "vaporize" rocks.

This NASA image shows a telephoto vista from a ridge in Mars' Gale Crater, in component images taken on October 25, 2017, during the 1,856th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. A vantage point on "Vera Rubin Ridge" provided NASA's Curiosity Mars rover this detailed look back over the area where it began its mission inside Gale Crater, plus more-distant features of the crater. This view toward the north-northeast combines eight images taken by the right-eye, telephoto-lens camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It shows more detail of a fraction of the area acquired from the same rover location using Mastcam's left-eye, wider-angle-lens camera. The scene has been white-balanced so the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Follow Sean Rossman on Twitter: @SeanRossman

 

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