NASA engineers are satisfied that the landing of Curiosity rover on Mars happened as well as it was planned and are confident that given the opportunity again, the accuracy of landing could be improved still further.
Curiosity is carrying the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface, a payload more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier Mars rovers. Its assignment: investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.
This color image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows part of the wall of Gale Crater, the location on Mars where the rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT). This is part of a larger, high-resolution color mosaic made from images obtained by Curiosity's Mast Camera.
This image of the crater wall is
Most of the data recorded by Curiosity’s onboard inertial sensors has yet to be downlinked to Earth, but even the small fraction of information that is in the possession of engineers has allowed them to reconstruct the key moments of the landing sequence.
Most of the energy of entry was dissipated in the form of heat as the front shield pushed up against the Martian air.
The rover is now on the surface but is not expected to start moving until September.