Perseverance has now dropped 10 sample tubes and to celebrate, it took a couple of selfies with several of the sample tubes visible in the designated "sample depot" it is creating within an area of Jezero Crater. The area of the depot is nicknamed "Three Forks."

The selfie was taken by the rover using its WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the robotic arm on Jan. 20, 2023, the 682nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

The selfies are composed of 56 individual WATSON images that were stitched together once they were sent back to Earth. Visible on the ground right next to the rover in this image is the ninth tube that was dropped by Perseverance. Other sample tubes are visible as well.

In this animated GIF, the rover looks down at the sample tube and then back at the camera, like a proud parent.

NASA says the depot marks a crucial milestone in the Mars Sample Return campaign, which is being jointly established by NASA and ESA, and plans and details of the mission are currently in development. Perseverance is the first mission to demonstrate this ability on Mars, and it could potentially pave the way for future missions that could collect the samples and return them to Earth for intensive laboratory analysis. This first depot will serve as a backup if Perseverance can't deliver its samples to a future robotic lander.