NASA`s Opportunity takes selfie to celebrate 10th anniversary on Mars

Zee Media Bureau\Philaso G Kaping

New Delhi: NASA has shared a selfie taken by Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to commemorate its tenth year on the Red Planet. A panoramic camera (Pancam) mounted on a mast of the rover recorded the component images for this self-portrait during the interval 3 January to 6 January, 2014. According to NASA, the images were taken a few days after winds removed some of the dust that had been accumulating on the rover`s solar panels. “Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time (Jan. 24, 2004, PST) for a mission that was planned to last three months. It is still active 10 Earth years later,” said NASA. “Opportunity has not experienced much change in health in the past year, and the vehicle remains a capable research partner for the team of scientists and engineers who plot each day`s activities to be carried out on Mars.” Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State University