The Perseverance Rover Took A Selfie Of Itself Hunting For Life On Mars
NASA sent Perseverance to Mars with a goal to find ancient life, and in a new photo from the rover, it took a selfie showing itself doing just that. The fascination with life on Mars isn't a new concept. For decades, humans have looked to the Red Planet and imagined it was once teeming with life. Part of this is thanks to science fiction, but there's also some logic to it. Mars may have looked very similar to Earth millions of years ago, and with a warmer atmosphere and flowing water, scientists think life could have thrived there.
There have been multiple attempts over the years to confirm whether or not Mars had ancient life — with one of the latest being Perseverance. Almost exactly one year ago, the Perseverance rover landed on Mars to try and find evidence of ancient or current life on the alien world. By exploring areas of interest to scientists, collecting rock samples, and sharing thousands of new images, it's the most complete attempt yet for possibly finding Martian life.
That all sounds impressive on paper, but what does Perseverance look like in action? Thanks to a recent photo from NASA, we get to see precisely that. NASA acquired the above photo from Perseverance on February 10, 2022. The photo generated a lot of buzz on the Perseverance website, with enough users voting it to be Perseverance's latest 'Image of the Week.'
Captured with Perseverance's Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A, the picture offers an incredible glimpse at Perseverance's day-to-day life. At the top of the photo is the rover's underside, accompanied by one of its wheels to the left. In front of that is one of Perseverance's many cameras. It appears to be focused on a specific chunk of rock on the planet, possibly one to collect a sample from. Beyond Perseverance is a stunning shot of the Martian landscape. We get to see other rocks littering its sandy surface, along with an eerie yellow/green sky looming over it. It's all pretty incredible.
A few days later, Perseverance followed up on the first picture with the second one shown above. Acquired by NASA on February 15 from Perseverance's Right Navigation Camera, it's very similar to the first picture. Part of the rover is visible towards the right, but this time, much more of Mars' harsh surface is present. From this angle, Perseverance highlights even more rocks, some of the tracks it made, and looming hills off in the distance.
Since it arrived on Mars on February 18, 2021, Perseverance has repeatedly shown itself to be an incredible asset for charting Mars. It may not have confirmed life on the planet just yet, but it's gradually working towards that goal. Whether or not that happens in 2022 remains to be seen, but whatever Perseverance finds next, it's bound to be interesting.