Gallery | Mars Curiosity - Week 1 | Rocky landing

The landing of the rover was picture perfect... almost. Scientists and engineers were surprised to see quite a bit of rocky debris on the top of the rover, clearly blown up by the rocket exhaust by the sky crane as it hovered over the surface. They weren't expecting quite this much material, but after analyzing the images like this one, taken by the right navigational camera, they've determined it won't interfere with the rover operations.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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