Before lander operated down to the surface of Mars under self propulsion, the HiRise "High Resolution" camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this shop. It shows the parachute above the lander of Curiosity as it drifted down. After the chute was released, under its own power the "sky crane" lander guided the Rover down to the NW corner of Mt. Sharp on the NW edge of Gale Crater.
At this time the rover is facing a S/SE direction.
The hills seen on the current Rear HazCam images is the edge of Gale Crater.
Nice! We have some more time and fun things to learn about Mars now.
ReplyDeleteThe MSL will be doing a number of activities. This includes actually digging into the soil like the Phoenix Lander did, baking the material in ovens to analyze the chemical composition, drilling into rocks like the MER Rovers, and a great deal more. It's primary objective is to search for per-existing evidence of past life.
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