Latest Curiosity images show rover's mission on Mars

This image taken by NASA's Curiosity shows what lies ahead for the rover -- its main science target, informally called Mount Sharp Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground, and the dark bands beyond are dunes. Rising up in the distance is the highest peak of Mount Sharp at a height of about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers), taller than Mt. Whitney in California. / NASA/JPL-Caltech

(CBS/AP) NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity is on its second day on the Red Planet. Before serious exploration gets underway, the rover is going through a battery of tests to ensure all equipment is functioning properly. Some of these tests involve calibrating its many cameras, offering some of the latest images of Mars.

Slideshow: Curiosity lands on Mars

Since parking itself inside an ancient crater Sunday night, the Curiosity rover has delighted scientists with views of its new surroundings, including the 3-mile-high mountain it will drive to. It beamed back the first color picture Tuesday revealing a tan-hued, pebbly landscape and the crater rim off in the distance.

Here, NASA provides some perspective for that first, cockeyed landscape photo. The black-and-white scenes on either side of the tipped-up center rectangle are computer simulations built from data provided by two orbiting satellites, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

/ ASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity's journey to Mars spanned eight months and 352 million miles. The rover gently touched down Sunday night after executing an elaborate and untested landing routine. The size of a compact car, it was too heavy to land using air bags. Instead, it relied on a heat shield, parachute, rockets and cables to lower it to the ground.

63 Photos

Mars rover Curiosity: Images from the Red Planet

During its seven-minute plunge through the atmosphere, Curiosity shed the spacecraft parts. On Tuesday, scientists got their first view of the castoffs. The eagle-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had circled over the landing site and spotted Curiosity and the scattered parts.

"It's like a crime scene photo," said Sarah Milkovich, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist.

RAW NASA CAPTION: These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.

/ NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots the landing sight of Curiosity.

/ NASA/JPL-Caltech

Scientists have high hopes for the potential discoveries Curiosity could make on Mars. It'll be several weeks before it takes its first drive and flexes its robotic arm. Since landing, engineers have been busy performing health checkups on its systems and instruments. Early Wednesday, a flood of black-and-white pictures of the Martian horizon and rover's deck poured in, which NASA will use to stitch together a panorama. Over the next several days, Curiosity was poised to send back even better pictures, including a 360-degree color view.

A view from one of Curiosity's navigation cameras shows the rim of Gale Crater, the rover's landing spot.

/ NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Curiosity rover is sending back video and pictures of its landing on Mars. Watch video at left.

[alanbenjamin]

Trillions of fossil worms perhaps?

[netjunkie1]

Beyond the question of life being on mars ever, there is the question if man can live on the planet.
To add, we should be looking for anything to exploit on Mars, like gold or rare elements, or any type of energy source. We can send robots to start digging and others to send back to our planet. We can process it on stations surrounding earth, and build bigger stations, and bigger ships...

[Icanfreethinkucant]

Eventually man will have to have an energy breakthrough, that is clear. Currently, I would say carbon nano tubes are a step in the right direction. With enough energy we could create an "artificial" environment on Mars and use it as a secondary home. This tech is a long way off, hence the disregard for it, but I personally want mankind to continue forth throughout the Universe well after I leave this dimension. Everyone that thinks otherwise is selfish and has their heads stuck in an iron box.

[jwilsonte5]

We need to get real this a waste of our money!!!!! no trees no water none of the thing needed for life!!! ya it was worth it a few pics. What a joke!!!

[netjunkie1]

There is water, and as you know, life follows.

[Icanfreethinkucant]

Man, I was hesitant to create a name on here and bash people that don't do research, but last I checked, we were spending more on war in the middle east in a few weeks, than the total cost of this project. Which, is indeed moving mankind in new directions. As far as pictures go, and you'll get them, you haven't seen anything yet my friend. You also forgot the 'over' and the 'most technical laser man has maybe ever created. If carbon exists (which the laser with prove base on the color of the gas given off when a rock is zapped) the chances that life has existed or still does on a microbial level is and will be one of the biggest discoveries in the history of mankind. Your ignorance persists in not realizing the amount of money that this project puts back into the pockets of the thousands of scientists involved in this project. Check back with me in two years when the nuclear powered engine on curiosity is still pumping out vital information of our red neighbor. Good day sir.

[formerlyluvnut]

Similar to Earth's Middle East minus the neanderthals. So far anyway.

[UForgotPoland]

Looks like Nevada!

[realtimecoffee]

There is a nice Curiosity overhead self-portrait here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-rover-curiosity-self-portrait-2012-8

[venusvegasvada]

NASA's always been cool.

The only problem they have is when management disregards the engineer's warnings, established procedures and common sense.

Some of the biggest tragedies we've seen where avoidable and the hard work of the people at NASA and their contractors should not be ignored based on the bad decisions of a few over the years.

It's good to see the pendulum swing back the other way. Long overdue.

[realtimecoffee]

I wish they'd added a distance scale to the landing field pix. Awesome job though NASA!

[marcie10000]

So unbelievable COOL! THANK you NASA (and Lockheed). Really well done!

[kem45]

Why are they wasting money on a planet that constantly gets his by asteroids.

[Scimajor]

Actually that's a common misconception. Mars doesn't get hit by asteroids any more often that we do here on Earth. We see an abundance of craters on Mars as compared to Earth due to an increased rate of erosion on Earth compared to Mars. Also, Mars has little or no active plate tectonics to recycle the crust.

The combination of a thicker atmosphere, abundant water and plate tectonics have obliterated all but a handful of craters on Earth but the rate of impacts is on par with that of Mars.

[mecury69]

I agree! Oh, you were talking about Mars.