2025年6月7日
Perseverance Selfie with Ingenuity
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
Explanation: On the Mars rover’s mission Sol 46 or Earth date April 6, 2021, Perseverance held out a robotic arm to take its first selfie on Mars. The WATSON camera at the end of the arm was designed to take close-ups of Martian rocks and surface details though, and not a quick snap shot of friends and smiling faces. In the end, teamwork and weeks of planning on Mars time was required to program a complex series of exposures and camera motions to include Perseverance and its surroundings. The resulting 62 frames were composed into a detailed mosaic, one of the most complicated Mars rover selfies ever taken. In this version of the selfie, the rover’s Mastcam-Z and SuperCam instruments are looking toward WATSON and the end of the rover’s outstretched arm. About 4 meters (13 feet) from Perseverance is a robotic companion, the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance has now spent over 1,500 sols exploring the surface of the Red Planet. On Earth date January 18, 2024, Ingenuity made its 72nd and final flight through the thin Martian atmosphere.
Tomorrow’s picture: Facing NGC 3344
毅力号稍带机智号的自拍照
影像提供: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
说明: 毅力号在它的第46个火星日（地球历2021年4月6日）那天，伸展机械手臂，并拍下在火星的第一幅自拍照。不过，位于机械臂尖的华生相机（WATSON），是设计用来拍摄火星岩石和火星表面的特写和细微结构，并不适合用来记录好友及笑容之类的生活照。所以，得用大量的团队合作及数个火星周的规划，并历经复杂的拍照程序和相机移位，才得以拍下毅力号及其周围的景观。在拍下62张照片后，才得以组合出细致、至今最复杂的火星车自拍照之一。在上面这个版本的自拍照里，毅力号的桅杆Z及超级成像分析仪，正好面对这部火星车外展机械臂尖的华生相机。而大约在4米之外，可见到毅力号的伙伴——机智号火星直升机。在火星上，毅力号至今用了1,500多个火星日来探索火星表面。于地球历2024年1月18日，机智号进行了第72次、也是在火星稀薄大气里的最后航行。
明日的图片: Facing NGC 3344
