Arm tests continue before the little Mars rover drives its way to its first soil and rock samples.

NASA's Curiosity rover might be sitting around an alien, Martian landscape, but it's bringing a bit of pop culture to the surface of the red planet.

Like legions of teenagers before it, Curiosity extended its (robotic) arm a few days ago and snapped off a self-portrait to beam back to Earth. It's a gesture that's as funny as it is practical; NASA has been putting the rover's arm through a series of gestures to ensure that it  and many important instruments attached to it  are functioning well.

Prior to its arm workout, Curiosity had been travelling toward Glenelg, an area on Mars where three different kinds of rocks coexist. It's here where the rover will begin taking samples and evaluating the terrain  a bit more work than shooting pretty pictures of itself for its NASA friends.

"We've been on the surface of Mars for about a month and Curiosity continues very healthy and continues to surprise us with how well she's doing everything we ask of her," said Mike Watkins, Mission Manager, as reported by CBS News. "We've continued to drive a little bit. We are about a football field or so away from the touchdown point."

Scientists estimate that the first sampling of Mars soil is approximately one month away or so. They want to make sure that arm and sampling systems are fully functional  and practice manipulating Curiosity's arm  before they start taking official samples of the Martian landscape. That includes the seven-foot arm's built-in drill, Mars Hand Lens Imager and, most importantly, its dust-removal tool.

"We will be putting the arm through a range of motions and placing it at important 'teach points' that were established during Earth testing, such as the positions for putting sample material into the inlet ports for analytical instruments," said NASA's Daniel Limonadi in a statement.

"These activities are important to get a better understanding for how the arm functions after the long cruise to Mars and in the different temperature and gravity of Mars, compared to earlier testing on Earth."

Curiosity has approximately 23 months left in its expected two-year service on the surface of Mars.

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).