(NEWS) Curiosity To Foreign Planet Mars Day 1

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First Day On Mars

Curiosity has woken for its first day on a foreign planet. On the cool and crisp surface of Mars, the NASA rover began its first solar day, Sol 1, about 9.45am Mars time (10.45am AEST).

 

Another of the first images beamed back from NASA's Curiosity rover on August 6 is the shadow cast by the rover on the surface of Mars

"What's really exciting is the rover is in this new place and is going to teach us about this new landing site," Jennifer Trosper, a mission manager with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said.

This image shows Curiosity's main science target, Mount Sharp. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground. The dark bands in the distances are dunes.

The rover's day one tasks include instrument "health checks" and communications tests with two of the rover's antennae. "We want to make sure we have as many communications links as possible," Ms Trosper said.

The rover communicates with Earth by relaying data through the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters, but it also has the capacity to listen and talk directly to Earth.

   
Another of the first images taken by the rover. The clear dust cover that protected the camera during landing has popped open. Part of the spring that released the dust cover can be seen at the bottom right, near the rover's wheel

This morning NASA will send a command into the rover's low-gain antenna, an "omni-directional" antenna that will be used primarily for receiving signals. "That command is going to start the activities for the day," Ms Trosper said.

This is one of the first pictures taken by Curiosity after it landed. It shows the rover's shadow on the Martian soil.

One of those activities will be deploying the high-gain antenna, which will be used to receive commands for the mission team back on Earth.

As Earth rises, the high-gain antenna will track the Earth from about 11.45am local Mars time for about 75 minutes.

"If that all goes well then we will have confirmed all our communications links work perfectly and that would be fantastic," she said.

This view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on Monday afternoon, the first day after landing.

"That's one of the main engineering objectives that we're trying out on the first few Sols."

After that, Curiosity will conduct checks on two of its 10 scientific instruments including the RAD, which measured high-energy radiation during the spacecraft's flight, but was turned off during descent and REMS, the rover's Martian weather station.

The rover has already used its descent imager, MARDI.

This image is a 3-D view in front of NASA's Curiosity rover. The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the front of the rover. Mount Sharp, a peak that is about 3.4 miles high, is visible rising above the terrain, though in one "eye" a box on the rover holding the drill bits obscures the view.

Isn't she lovely ... Mars, as pictured by the Hubble telescope in 2003. Photo: NASA/AP