Mars Rover records self

Artist's impression of the Mars Exploration Rover London - Arabstoday Dust covers the Mars Exploration rover's solar panels in an incredible self-portrait captured by the machine itself in three days last December. The 'portrait' is a mosaic of images as Exploration sought out a sunny slope to see out Martian winter (it's fifth since it arrived on the planet in January 2004). The dust reduces the rover's power supply, and the rover now has to seek out a sun-facing slope to stay active during the Martian winters. The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted. The portrait is presented in approximate true color, the camera team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Opportunity has worked through four Martian southern hemisphere winters since it landed in in January 2004 about 14 miles northwest of its current location. Closer to the equator than its twin rover, Spirit, Opportunity has not needed to stay on a sun-facing slope during the previous winters. Now, however, Opportunity's solar panels carry a thicker coating of dust, and the team is using a strategy employed for three winters with Spirit: staying on a sun-facing slope. The sun will pass relatively low in the northern sky from the rover's perspective for several months of shortened daylight before and after the southern Mars winter solstice on March 30, 2012. Opportunity is conducting research while located on the north-facing slope of a site called ‘Greeley Haven.’