Over the past few years, social media has taken off – so far in fact, that NASA’s Curiosity rover is taking selfies on Mars. Today marks the “Marsiversary” of its landing almost two years ago, or 687 Earth days, which equals one Martian year.
So how does Curiosity snap its selfies? Well, by sticking out its robotic arm, of course. It turns the camera on the end of the arm towards itself and begins the photoshoot. The images are then stitched together to create a mosaic. Because of the way they’re taken, the robotic arm never appears in the photo. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Photo courtesy of NASA
In all seriousness, it seems the mission’s main goal of determining if Mars has environmental conditions favorable for microbial life was a success! As you can see, #selfies can be quite beneficial.
NASA recently announced they would try sending humans to Mars by early 2030, but at this rate, who knows? What’s the most creative selfie you’ve seen? Send it to us in a comment on our Happy Marsiversary post on Facebook!
