Over the weekend, NASA’s Curiosity rover successfully drilled into the surface of Mars and collected its first sample from inside a Martian rock. Take a moment to stand right beside Curiosity, and enjoy the Martian landscape.

The context, courtesy of Wired:

Late on Feb. 8, Curiosity drilled a 6.4-cm-deep hole into a rock nicknamed John Klein on the surface of Mars. The area the rover is in appears to have been repeatedly flooded with water in the past and the drilling operation will allow scientists to uncover the complex aqueous history of the place. Curiosity has excavated a tiny sample from inside the rock and will analyze the powder with its suite of instruments. This is the most complex operation the rover has yet performed on Mars.

The interactive panorama below was created by photographer Andrew Bodrov, whose previous Curiosity panorama depicted the craft just after it landed in August. The selfie portion of the panorama was stitched together from 66 shots taken with the rover’s MAHLI camera, which sits on the end of Curiosity’s arm. The full panorama incorporates about 130 photographs from the rover’s MastCams. On the surface just in front of the rover, you can see the drilling hole as well as the “mini-drill” test from last week.

Mars Panorama – Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 177 in New Mexico

[Source : Wired]