A robot takes its own picture

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Space & simple abilities · News English

A robot takes its own picture

A new NASA picture feature shows an older view of Mars.

A1 · Beginner5–8 minutes

Created by , British English teacher.

Curiosity on the rocky ground of Vera Rubin Ridge on Mars, in its assembled self-portrait.
Archive self-portrait assembled from rover photographs taken on 23 January 2018. NASA/JPL original mosaic PIA22207, not the separate Andrew Bodrov panorama used by APOD. The rover’s camera arm is outside the selected frames. This is not a new photograph from October 2026.Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS · JPL image reuse policy. Resized; card thumbnail cropped.

Read the story, check the words, then answer the questions and speak.

An old picture in a new feature

Is this picture from today?

1NASA featured an old picture on 3 October 2026. It shows Curiosity, a robot on Mars. The picture is a selfie: a picture of the robot itself.

2Curiosity is about the size of a car. It has wheels and a camera. The camera can take pictures. The robot does not need a person standing in front of it with a phone.

3This picture comes from many small pictures. The robot took them on 23 January 2018. A team put the pictures together. You cannot see the robot’s camera arm in this view.

4A new report can show an old picture. This is not a picture from today. It helps us see the robot and the ground around it.

Original teaching summary. Language examples and models are illustrative, not news quotations.

Word help · Three useful words

Read the meanings and examples. Choose one word to use in your own sentence.

robot

a machine that does tasks

A robot can move a box.

camera

a machine for taking pictures

My phone has a camera.

selfie

a picture you take of yourself

This is a selfie of me.

Check your reading · Three questions

Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.

1. What does the picture show?

2. When were the original pictures taken?

3. How was the picture made?

Useful English: can + an action word

Use can to say what something can do. After can, use the simple action word: A camera can take pictures. Say can take, not can takes.

Speak for 20 seconds

Say what your phone can do. Use can.

Model and help

Model: My phone can take pictures.

Alone: repeat without reading. Tutor: ask for one more action.

Speak: your ideas

Say what the picture shows. Then say one thing a camera can do. Speak for 20-30 seconds.

Labelled model answer

The picture shows a robot on Mars. A camera can take pictures.

This model is an illustrative learning example, not a news quotation.

Alone: repeat once. Tutor: Do you like taking selfies?

Mastery check · Three questions

Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.

1. Complete: The camera can ___ pictures.

2. What is a selfie?

3. Which statement is correct?

Sources and reporting date

NASA published this picture feature on 3 October 2026 at 00:05 EDT (04:05 UTC). The original self-portrait photographs were taken on 23 January 2018.