How to Selfie with NASA's Perseverance Rover

On April 6, 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took a historic group selfie. How was the selfie taken, though? The procedure is explained in this video by Vandi Verma, Perseverance's chief engineer for robotic operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Perseverance's navigation cameras captured video of the robotic arm of the rover twisting and moving to capture the 62 photos that make up the image. The sound of the arm's motors turning during the procedure was recorded by the rover's entrance, descent, and landing microphones.

Engineers can monitor the rover's deterioration over time by taking selfies.