From Discovery News’ Irene Klotz (who is currently at NASA JPL):
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover sent back its first high-resolution pictures from its new home inside Gale Crater, offering a stunning view of the towering Mount Sharp. The three-mile-high mound — taller than any mountain in the continental United States — is Curiosity’s ultimate destination, a site that scientists believe may harbor evidence of habitats that could support life.
NASA’s Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to transmissions from the rover. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box; the inset image is a cutout of the rover stretched to avoid saturation. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the sand dunes that fringe “Mt. Sharp.” From the perspective of the orbiter, the parachute and Curiosity are flying at an angle relative to the surface, so the landing site does not appear directly below the rover.
We were kind of hoping that NASA’s Curiosity rover would have sent this back as its first picture from Mars.
Images sent from the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.
Touchdown time: 10:14:39 (PDT)
Images: NASA
Guardian: Curiosity rover: Nasa nerves turn to elation after perfect Mars landing
NASA celebrates landing of the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.
Video: AP/NASA TV
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) (201208050013HQ) by nasa hq photo on Flickr.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team in the MSL Mission Support Area reacts after learning the the Curiosity rover has landed safely on Mars and images start coming in at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Mars, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 in Pasadena, Calif. The MSL Rover named Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
