Robot Companions Take a Selfie on Mars!

It’s safe to say that selfies are a rage on planet earth but did you hear about how robot companions took a selfie together? That’s right; the NASA Perseverance rover stationed on the surface of Mars took a selfie with its companion, the Ingenuity helicopter.

NASA on Wednesday released a selfie taken by the Perseverance rover with the Ingenuity helicopter. The rover took the self-portrait with the helicopter located 4 meters to its left. NASA released the image which was assembled by putting together 62 individual images taken from the camera on the rover called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), part of the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument, located at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.

NASA also released other pictures taken by the Perseverance rover, including one that showed the Ingenuity helicopter sitting on the Martian surface on April 5.

The Ingenuity helicopter was stored in the rover’s belly since before the launch. Last weekend, the rover dropped the helicopter on the surface of the red planet. Equipped with cameras, the helicopter is expected to take more photographs on Mars after it takes to the air.