NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Clicks Selfie After Rare Chemistry Experiment

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover conducted an experiment dropping a drilled sample into a special solvent that could help the rover identify carbon-containing organic molecules.  "We've been eager to find an area that would be compelling enough to do wet chemistry," Paul Mahaffy, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. "Now that we're in the clay-bearing unit, we've finally got it."

The results of last month's experiment won't be known until next year, mission team members said.

"SAM's data is extremely complex and takes time to interpret," Mahaffy said. "But we're all eager to see what we can learn from this new location, Glen Etive."

Earlier, Curiosity rover had released a photo that shows a mysterious, unexplained white light on Mars. The black-and-white raw image that was transmitted back to Earth was taken by the Curiosity rover's right “Navcam" (which acts as sort of an eye) on June 16, 2019 or Sol 2438. The Navcam snapped the picture at 09.24 am IST.

The rover has two Navcams and 17 cameras and it has been sending photographs continuously since it landed on the Red Planet in August 2012, nearly seven years ago.

The image shows, a disc-shaped orb which is white in colour can be seen floating above the surface of Mars. However, experts revealed that the Curiosity Rover had captured similar illuminations in the past.

In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely, and on August 5, 2017, NASA celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity rover landing. The rover is still operational, and as of June 22, 2019, Curiosity has been on Mars for 2444 sols (2511 total days) since landing on August 6, 2012.