NASA's Perseverance rover is positively glowing in its new selfie on Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover pauses along the western rim of Mars' ancient Jezero Crater in a striking new image, taking in sweeping rocky cliffs and windswept terrain stretching across the Red Planet's rugged landscape. A newly released selfie shows the robotic explorer against a dramatic backdrop of ancient Martian terrain in a region known as "Lac de Charmes." The rover appears perched on a jagged outcrop, with the western rim of Jezero Crater in the distance. The image, assembled from 61 individual photographs, captures Perseverance beside a freshly drilled abrasion patch as it studies some of the oldest rocks scientists have encountered during the mission, according to a statement from NASA. The selfie was taken on March 11 during the rover's 1,797th Martian day, or sol, on Mars . The image marks Perseverance's deepest journey yet into the western frontier beyond Jezero Crater — terrain scientists see as a valuable window into Mars' distant past. NASA's Perseverance rover captured this selfie along the western rim of Jezero Crater on March 11, 2026, while exploring ancient rocky terrain in the "Lac de Charmes" region of Mars. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) "What I see in this image is [an] excellent exposure of likely the oldest rocks we are going to investigate during this mission," Ken Farley, Perseverance's deputy project scientist at California Institute of Technology, said in the statement. …