At the end of October, NASA's Curiosity rover used the high-resolution camera on its robotic arm to snap more than 50 pictures of itself. The resulting self-portrait, first published in November, was made by stitching those images together.
NASA has now released a video animation showing how the six-wheeled robot captured dozens of self shots at different angles. It required sophisticated wrist work and arm rotations over a two-day period.
To ensure a smooth photo shoot on Mars, the arm choreography was first practiced at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California using Curiosity's Earthbound twin.
Once the real rover arrived on the Red Planet, images were beamed back to Earth and then pieced together by the Mars team. Engineers deliberately positioned Curiosity's arm so that it did not make it into most of the pictures.
Watch the video below:
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