Curiosity rover snaps stunning selfie on Mars mountain

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover snapped a selfie against the backdrop of the scenic Martian landscape before starting out on the next phase of its exploratory mission.

The self-portrait shared by NASA is made up of 60 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the end of Curiosity's robotic arm.

It shows Curiosity in the Murray Buttes area of lower Mount Sharp on the red planet, which NASA calls "arguably the most scenic landscape yet visited by a Mars rover."

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Curiosity is bidding farewell to Murray Buttes, where it has collected hundreds of photographs — and plenty of rock powder samples — over the last few weeks. 

Its findings there have provided insight into the history of Mars.

Scientists have learned the area is made mostly of mudstone that formed out of the mud that accumulated at the bottom of ancient lakes.

According to NASA, this indicates lakes on Mars were "enduring, not fleeting."

Curiosity will now move upwards and onwards.

"We will see whether that record of lakes continues further," Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada said in a statement released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

"The more vertical thickness we see, the longer the lakes were present, and the longer habitable conditions existed here. Did the ancient environment change over time? Will the type of evidence we've found so far transition to something else?"

The next destination on the journey is uphill about 2½ kilometres towards a Mount Sharp ridge capped with a material rich in the iron-oxide mineral hematite, then further up towards an exposure of clay-rich bedrock.

"We continue to reach higher and younger layers on Mount Sharp," Vasavada said. "Even after four years of exploring near and on the mountain, it still has the potential to completely surprise us."

When Curiosity first landed on Mars in 2012, the plan was to explore the planet for two years. NASA has since approved multiple mission extensions for the project, most recently for two years starting on Oct. 1.