May 29, 2025 Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. student at Purdue University and Megan Kennedy Wu Senior Mission Operations Specialist, Malin Space Science Systems.

In celebration of her 1,500^th Martian Day (“Sol”) exploration the red planet, Perseverance used its robotic arm for a selfie. When team members reviewed the picture, they were surprised to discover that Perseverance was photobombed.

The Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operation and eNgineering camera at the end of the rover’s arm was used to capture a 59 image mosaic of the rover as it sat in the “Pine Pond”, located on the outer rim Jezero crater which it has been exploring for several months. Perseverance’s fifth “selfie”, taken since its landing on Mars in the year 2021, is not visible. The robotic arm of the rover is not visible because, just like when you take a selfie with your cellphone camera, rover operators ensure that the arm does not get “in the path” of the rover body. Perseverance, the rover, takes 59 images in slightly different positions to create the selfie. The robotic arm’s elbow is kept out of harm’s way during the acquisition of the images. This YouTube videowill show you how the rover’s arm moves during these activities. Perseverance, while snapping away on the rover, was photobombed in the distance by a dust storm! These phenomena are common on Mars as well as in Earth’s desert areas. They form from rising and spinning columns of warm air that give the appearance of a tornado. Jezero Crater is currently experiencing the peak season for dust devil activity. This is similar to other weather patterns. The dust devil seen in the selfie measures about 100 meters (328 feet) across. Perseverance monitors the horizon regularly for dust devil activity using Navcam movies. This is the first time that the WATSON on the robotic arm has captured an image of a Dust Devil!

^{The dark hole in the front of the rover is surrounded by gray powder created during drilling. This shows the location of Perseverance’s 26} th^{sample. This rock sample, nicknamed “Bell Island”, after an island near Newfoundland in Canada, contains small spherules that are thought to have been formed by volcanic eruptions and impacts during the early history of Mars. This ancient rock was later uplifted by the impact that created Jezero crater. Perseverance, the rover that successfully collected the spherules the science team sought, is now leaving the area in order to explore new rock exposures. Last week, Perseverance arrived at a bedrock exposure with a light tone called “Copper Cove.” The science team wanted to determine if the unit was overlying or underlying the rock sequence that had been explored earlier. After an abrasion was performed to examine the chemistry and texture, the rover drove to the south to explore more sites along the outer edge rim of the Jezero Crater.}

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