Ever since Curiosity, the roving laboratory built and operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, landed on Mars in a sled-like delivery module, it's kept Internet trackers happy with regular images and reports posted on cyberspace.
NASA's tech-savvy communications team have released ongoing updates about the probe's status and whereabouts on the Red Planet --- all in the name of drawing regular folks in to the cosmic exploratory mix.
It turns out at least one YouTube user, Karl Sanford of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was motivated to compile 9-months-worth of images sent back to Earth by Curiosity into a single video --- and then post it on, of course, YouTube.
The still images featured in the video were all taken with Curiosity's left front hazard camera, or Hazcam --- which pretty much works in the manner its name implies, as a way for the Curiosity operational team to keep a lookout for potential obstacles in the unit's way and plot out the appropriate resulting maneuvers.
Most frames in the compilation video show the rover's 7-foot robotic arm --- with two instruments attached, a close-up camera called the Mars Hand Lens Imager and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer for analyzing rock composition --- sweeping across the framed Martian landscape.
The snapshots included in the video represent the first through 281st day of Curiosity's visit to Mars.
NASA intended the Curiosity mission to approximately two years although, as has been seen with other high-profile robotic space missions, the probe may continue to collect and send back data far beyond its original time parameters.
Curiosity has encountered a few unexpected incidents since touching down on the Red Planet, including one big scare when part of its on-board computer memory was damaged.
But, just like that old Timex commercial used to say, Curiosity "takes a licking, but keeps on ticking."
Unlike some older robotic space explorers, Curiosity is nuclear rather than solar powered.
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