How NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captured Its Stunning Mars Selfie (Video)

NASA’s Curiosity rover recently set a record for the steepest hill it’s ever climbed, and to commemorate the achievement, the rover took a selfie — naturally.

During its explorations of the red planet, Curiosity had to climb over the Greenheugh Pediment at a 31-degree tilt. The only other steep climb that had been previously done was completed by the Opportunity rover when it scaled a 32-degree hill on Mars in 2016.

“It took three drives, and was worth it,” Curiosity ‘wrote’ on Twitter. “Before I scaled the hill, I took this self-portrait.”

However, no ordinary selfie-stick snapshot would suffice for the Curiosity rover. The selfie is a 360-degree panorama stitched together from 86 images taken by a robotic arm. The photos were shot using a Mars Hand Lens Camera, or MAHLI, positioned at the end of the robotic arm.

The MAHLI is capable of capturing close-up pictures of Mars’s sand grains and rock textures, similar to how a geologist would use a magnifying glass on Earth. When the camera rotates, it can take selfies of the rover during its operations.

The rover is engineered to ascend hills of up to 45 degrees; nevertheless, its wheels sometimes become stuck during climbs, according to NASA. However, it was never in jeopardy of tipping over, as its operators on Earth carefully plan each drive to ensure Curiosity remains safe and capable of fulfilling its Mars mission.

Since 2014, Curiosity has been exploring Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall mountain positioned at the center of Gale Crater, and sending images back to Earth.

Earlier this month, the rover unveiled the highest resolution photo ever taken of Mars. The 1.8-billion pixel panorama showcases the Martian landscape in unprecedented detail.