Opportunity takes first-ever selfie to celebrate 5,000 Martian days of operations. (February 15, 2018).
In honor of the rover’s 5,000th Sol on Mars, NASA’s Opportunity rover took its first ever selfie February 15th. The golf-cart sized robot landed in the Meridiani Planum region of the Red Planet in January 2004 after a six month trek from Earth.
Using the Microscopic Imager located on its robotic arm, Opportunity took a series of 17 images that show the rover’s features. Since the imager is meant to photograph soil samples directly in front of the camera, the selfie of Opportunity appears less detailed than similar images from the later Curiosity rover.
While the Imager was taking pictures of Opportunity, the rover’s higher-resolution Navcam assembly captured the camera and the arm it was attached to - known as the Instrument Deployment Device - extended.
Navcam image of Opportunity’s Microscopic Imager seen in the center of the Instrument Deployment Device during last week’s selfie series. P/c: NASA/JPL/Caltech.
Opportunity is currently parked on the edge of Endeavour crater riding out its 8th Martian winter. The rover is expected to begin movement around the end of March. Over the course of its 5,000 sols - which adds up to over 14 Earth years - Opportunity has driven over 28 miles on the Martian surface.
Opportunity was preceded on Mars by its twin rover Spirit, which launched from Earth nearly three weeks earlier.
Spirit became stuck in a soft patch of Martian soil in May 2009 and remained a stationary science platform until March 2010 when contact was lost. That rover travelled over 4.8 miles during its 2,623 sols.
Annotated image showing the rover’s easily-seen features. P/c: NASA/JPL/Caltech/Joey Vars.
P/c: NASA/JPL/Caltech. Edit and coloration by Joey Vars.
