Dramatic video of moment Curiosity landed on Mars

Curiosity, a roving laboratory the size of a small car, landed right on target late on Sunday night after an eight-month, 345 million-mile journey.

The first grainy, black and white images sent back show Martian gravel, with nearby landmark Mount Sharp visible in the background.

The pictures gave scientists at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California their first glimpse of what the Curiosity’s cameras are picking up as it begins its exploration of Mars.

Nasa also released a short video consisting of 297 low-resolution images taken by the vehicle’s Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) as it floated down into the Gale Crater.

The image sequence received so far indicates Curiosity had, as expected, a very exciting ride to the surface. Mike Malin

Mike Malin, imaging scientist for the Mars Science Lab mission, said: “The image sequence received so far indicates Curiosity had, as expected, a very exciting ride to the surface.

“But as dramatic as they are, there is real other-world importance to obtaining them.

“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.”

The resolution of the MARDI images has been reduced eightfold so they can be received more quickly, but high-quality images will be returned to earth over the next several months as Curiosity begins its scientific exploration of Mars.

Larger colour images are expected later in the week when the rover’s mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed.

Analysts will try to recover 1,504 high-resolution images stored in the rover’s onboard memory to construct a better video showing Curiosity’s parachute descent to the surface of Mars from the moment the heat shields were jettisoned in the planet’s upper atmosphere to touchdown.

The first photographs show rim of the crater where Curiosity landed and geographical features like dark dunes, impact craters and rock escarpments

Also shown in a photograph taken by Curiosity’s hazard avoidance camera was Mount Sharp, the 3.4 mile-high mountain where Nasa controllers will direct the rover.

Scientists think the mountain’s lower layers could hold clues to environmental changes on Mars.

Mission manager Jennifer Trosper says the next steps involve “waking up” Curiosity for its first full day on the red planet.

Scientists will then activate the rover’s high-gain antenna to improve direct communication between Curiosity and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Ms Trosper said: “They’re building the sequences that we’re going to send to the rover in about two hours.”

She added: “So far we are just ecstatic about the performance of the vehicle.”