A vivid scene of sandy plain on
the rim of Gale Crater was faithfully captured by the latest Mars
rover Curiosity as NASA published the first of a batch of color
pictures the vehicle beamed back on Tuesday.
The beaming of the picture, as well as a low-resolution video,
suggests that the vehicle had a "very exciting ride to the surface,
" NASA announced in a prepared statement.
"These images will help the mission scientists interpret the
rover's surroundings, the rover drivers in planning for future
drives across the surface, as well as assist engineers in their
design of forthcoming landing systems for Mars or other worlds,"
NASA added.
The photograph showed a pebbly landscape and the rim of Gale
Crater off in the distance. In the video depicting the final 2 1/2
minutes of Curiosity's descent onto the Martian terrain, the craft
can be seen against a large swath of mountains in the background.
Earlier, NASA had released a black-and-white image captured by
the spacecraft after it successfully touched down on the Red Planet
early Monday. The pictures showed that the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter was still encased in the descent capsule as it sailed under
a parachute 210 miles (336 km) below.
Packed with 17 cameras to shoot high-quality photos and videos in
black-and-white, color, and 3-D stereo, as well as 10 sophisticated
science instruments on board, Curiosity is undoubtedly the
embodiment of the great progress in multiple technologies used in
the exploration of the Red Planet.
The mission aims to explore if Mars could be inhabitable for
human beings and look for clues of planetary changes. By analyzing
data sent back by it, NASA researchers can look into the composition
of rocks and samples from the barren surface.
There will now be several weeks of systems checks before the six-
wheeled, nuclear-powered rover begins to move across the Martian
surface.
The car-size craft, weighing 900 kg, is five times heavier than
its rover predecessors Spirit and Opportunity, both of which made
their Mars landing in 2004.
The $2.5-billion Mars Science Laboratory, the formal
name of the mission deploying the Curiosity rover, was launched from
Cape Canaveral in Florida on Nov. 26, 2011.
