” I entered this since I saw a picture from Sojourner, NASAs first Mars rover,” said Vandi Verma, Perseverances chief engineer for robotic operations at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Verma worked as a motorist for the firms Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, and she helped to develop Curiositys very first selfie, snapped on October 31, 2012. “When we took that very first selfie, we didnt understand these would become so iconic and regular,” she said
Video from among Perseverances navigation cams reveals the rovers robotic arm steering and twisting to take the 62 images that make up the image. What it doesnt capture is just how much work entered into making this first selfie occur. Heres a more detailed look.
NASAs Perseverance rover recorded a historical group selfie with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on April 6, 2021. However how was the selfie taken? Vandi Verma, Perseverances primary engineer for robotic operations at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California breaks down the process in this video. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Teamwork
Perseverances selfie came together with the assistance of a core group of about a dozen individuals, including rover chauffeurs, engineers who ran tests at JPL, and camera operations engineers who established the electronic camera series, processed the images, and stitched them together. It took about a week to outline out all the specific commands required.
Everybody was dealing with “Mars time” (a day on the Red Planet is 37 minutes longer than in the world), which often indicates being awake in the middle of the night and catching up on sleep during the day. These staff member often passed up that sleep just to get the selfie done.
NASAs Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON video camera on the rovers robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the objective. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
JPL worked with Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, which developed and operates the camera responsible for the selfie. Called WATSON ( Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), the camera is designed primarily for getting close-up information shots of rock textures, not wide-angle images. Engineers had to command the rover to take lots of individual images to produce the selfie since each WATSON image covers just a small portion of a scene.
” The thing that took the most attention was getting Ingenuity into the ideal location in the selfie,” stated Mike Ravine, Advanced Projects Manager at MSSS. “Given how small it is, I thought we did a respectable task.”
This computer simulation reveals NASAs Perseverance Mars rover taking its very first selfie, on April 6, 2021. The perspective of the rovers WATSON camera is included to demonstrate how each of the 62 images were taken prior to being sent out to Earth and stitched together into the selfie. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The MSSS image processing engineers began their work when images come down from Mars. They begin by tidying up any imperfections triggered by dust that decided on the electronic cameras light detector. They put together the specific image frames into a mosaic and smooth out their joints using software. An engineer warps and crops the mosaic so that it looks more like a normal camera photo that the public is utilized to seeing.
Computer system Simulations
Like the Curiosity rover (this black-and-white video from March 2020 demonstrate how it takes a selfie), Perseverance has a rotating turret at the end of its robotic arm. Along with other science instruments, the turret includes the WATSON video camera, which remains concentrated on the rover during selfies while being angled to catch a part of the scene. The arm acts like a selfie stick, remaining simply out of frame in the end product.
Commanding Perseverance to film its selfie stick in action is far more challenging than with Curiosity. Where Curiositys turret measures 22 inches (55 centimeters) throughout, Perseverances turret is much bigger, measuring 30 inches (75 centimeters) across. Thats like waving something the size of a road bike wheel just centimeters in front of Perseverances mast, the “head” of the rover.
JPL produced software application to guarantee the arm doesnt collide with the rover. Each time a crash is found in simulations in the world, the engineering group changes the arm trajectory; the process repeats lots of times to confirm the arm motion is safe. The final command series gets the robotic arm “as close as we could get to the rovers body without touching it,” Verma stated.
They run other simulations to make sure that, state, the Ingenuity helicopter is positioned properly in the final selfie or the microphone can record sound from the robotic arms motors.
The Sound of Selfies
The mics mark a very first for NASAs Mars spacecraft, and audio pledges to be a crucial brand-new tool for rover engineers in the years ahead. In the past, engineers would have to settle for listening to a test rover on Earth.
” Its like your car: Even if youre not a mechanic, sometimes you hear a problem before you understand somethings wrong,” Verma said.
While they have not heard anything worrying to date, the whirring motors do sound surprisingly musical when reverberating through the rovers chassis.
More About the Mission
An essential objective for Perseverances objective on Mars is astrobiology, consisting of the search for indications of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past environment, pave the method for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the very first objective to gather and cache Martian rock and regolith (damaged rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA objectives, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to gather these sealed samples from the surface area and return them to Earth for extensive analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission becomes part of NASAs Moon to Mars exploration technique, which consists of Artemis missions to the Moon that will assist get ready for human expedition of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

Video from one of Perseverances navigation cams reveals the rovers robotic arm navigating and twisting to take the 62 images that make up the image. NASAs Perseverance rover captured a historic group selfie with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on April 6, 2021. NASAs Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. Because each WATSON image covers only a small part of a scene, engineers had to command the rover to take lots of specific images to produce the selfie.
The point of view of the rovers WATSON video camera is included to show how each of the 62 images were taken before being sent out to Earth and sewn together into the selfie.

This reveals the sequence in which NASAs Perseverance Mars rover took 62 specific images with its WATSON camera, on April 6, 2021, prior to they were sewn together into a single selfie. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The historic picture of the rover beside the Mars Helicopter showed to be among the most intricate rover selfies ever taken. Video, with bonus audio, clarifies the process.
Ever wondered how Mars rovers take a selfie? Color video from NASAs Perseverance reveals how the rover captured the historical April 6, 2021, picture of itself beside the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As a perk, the rovers descent, entry, and landing microphone recorded the sound of the arms motors whirring during the procedure.
Selfies permit engineers to examine wear and tear on the rover. They likewise inspire a brand-new generation of space lovers: Many rover group members can point out a preferred image that triggered their interest in NASA.