NASA's latest rover - Curiosity - landed safely on Mars' surface and has started sending pictures and videos of the dramatic landscape. NASA has released these pictures along with the low-resolution video that Curiosity sent.
The low-resolution video, which Curiosity transmitted, shows the last two and half minutes of its dive through the Martian atmosphere. The video also provides a sneak peek of the red planet's land. The NASA researchers attributed for the low-resolution video to the fact that Curiosity is yet to deploy all its instruments. Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), placed at the end of the rover's robotic arm, took the current images.
After a journey of 36 weeks and 352 million miles, at approximately 1.32AM ET, the one ton nuclear-powered rover touched the surface of Mars and landed about four miles from its ultimate science destination, Mount Sharp, Gale Crater near the equator.
Researchers at NASA named the seven-minute descent as "seven minutes of terror" as the craft had to endure Mars' temperatures of 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit and the craft's increasing speeds of 13,000 mph.
"We are wheels down on Mars!" was the official information from the mission control.
Curiosity will be searching for evidence of past climatic conditions including carbon that once supported microbial life on the planet.
Scientists, however, urged that that this mission will be a slow one. Even though the mission has been funded for two years, the scientists believe that the operations may take some more time.
While NASA reported that Color photos and panoramas will be sent from Curiosity in the next few days, for now, check out the first video sent by the rover:
