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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover sits on the dusty, rock-strewn surface of Mars with its tall sensor mast angled toward the camera. A short distance to the left, the small Ingenuity helicopter sits on the orange-tinted soil near distinct rover wheel tracks. In the background, a flat Martian landscape stretches under a hazy, salmon-colored sky toward low hills on the distant horizon.

Perseverance’s Selfie with Ingenuity

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this selfie with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on April 6, 2021 (the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). Ingenuity is about 13 feet (3.9 meters) away from the rover. To capture this image, Perseverance used the WATSON camera at the end of its long robotic arm to take 62 individual images, which were stitched together once transmitted back to Earth. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and manages operations for the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. WATSON was built by Malin Space Science Systems and is operated jointly by MSSS and JPL.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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