SPACE

Curiosity Sends Back Photos

After landing on Mars early this morning.

The Curiosity Mars rover is safely landed on the floor of Gale Crater on mars and has already begun transmitting pictures back to scientists on Earth. Grainy black-and-white photos show landscape of the red planet and soon, after the main camera is set up, high-resolution color photos will begin being sent back. "To me, it's representative of a successful landing on Mars, it's representative of a new home for the rover, it's representative of a new Mars that we've never seen before," says mission manager Mike Watkins. "And so every one of those pictures is the most beautiful picture I've ever seen." The two-year, $2.5 billion project's goal is to seek out signs of whether life on Mars was ever possible.