Perseverance Takes Sixth Selfie West of Jezero Crater

NASA's Perseverance rover captured its sixth selfie on Mars on March 11, the 1,797th Martian day, or sol, of its mission, posing against the rugged western rim of Jezero Crater in a region called Lac de Charmes. The composite image, stitched from 61 photographs taken by the WATSON camera on the rover's robotic arm, shows the vehicle perched on a jagged outcrop nicknamed Arethusa, with a fresh abrasion patch visible below and distant cliffs framing the scene.

The selfie marks the rover's farthest westward venture beyond Jezero Crater since its landing in February 2021. Perseverance had just used its abrasion tool to grind into the Arethusa rock, exposing igneous minerals that scientists believe predate the crater's formation billions of years ago. These ancient rocks, formed from cooling molten material deep underground, offer a glimpse into Mars' early crust.

"We took this image when the rover was in the Wild West beyond the Jezero Crater rim, the farthest west we have been since we landed at Jezero a little over five years ago," said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We had just abraded and analyzed the Arethusa outcrop,...