Curiosity Mars rover healthy after dramatic landing

The view from Curiosity's front "hazcam" shows Mount Sharp rising three miles above the floor of Gale Crater to the southeast, with the shadow of the rover in the foreground.

(Credit: NASA)

PASADENA, Calif.--The nuclear-powered Curiosity Mars rover survived its nail-biting plunge to a pinpoint landing on the floor of Gale Crater in remarkably good shape, engineers said Monday, setting down on a flat, wind-swept plain littered with uniform gravel-like rocks and firm soil.

In a low-resolution view from a hazard avoidance camera on Curiosity's back fender, the rim of Gale Crater can be seen some 12 miles away to the northwest, while a fish-eye view from a front hazcam shows Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high mound of layered rocks to the southeast that the rover will attempt to climb later in its two-year mission.

A low-resolution view from Curiosity's rear hazard avoidance camera, showing the rim of Gale Crater about 12 miles away to the northwest.

(Credit: NASA)

While the grainy, black-and-white hazcam views do not compare to the spectacular color images expected later, scientists and engineers were elated.

"To me, it's representative of a successful landing on Mars, it's representative of a new home for the rover, it's representative of a new Mars that we've never seen before," said mission manager Mike W... [Read more]