This is the first ever colour image taken from the Mars Curiosity Rover after it had touched down on the surface of Mars.
The mission is set to last for one full Martian year which is 98 weeks. The date on which the Mars Curiosity landed is Sol 0 and the image below was taken on Sol 1, which is the first day of operations (August 6th 2012)
The reason that the image looks so unclear is due to the fact that the removable dust cover on the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is coated in dust blown onto the camera during the rover’s terminal descent. The dust cover is set to be removed in the coming weeks, so we will hopefully get some much clearer images of the landscape of Mars as well as some rock formation images. The MAHLI has a transparent dust cover. This image was acquired with the dust cover closed. The cover will not be opened until more than a week after the landing.
In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater
Here is an image of the Gale Crater (via The Martian Chronicles)
Other size images::
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
