Friday, January 24, 2014

Opportunity's January 2014 Self-Portrait


NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars. The rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) took the images during the interval January 3, 2014, to January 6, 2014, 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 January 25, 2004, Universal Time (January 24, 2004, PST) for a mission that was planned to last three months. It is still active 10 Earth years later.

This image is presented as a vertical projection. The mast on which the Pancam is mounted does not appear in the image, though its shadow does.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University

Note: For more information, see PIA17758: Opportunity's First Decade of Driving on Mars and NASA's Opportunity at 10: New Findings from Old Rover.

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