Here's one of the first Pics from

Mars Rover Curiosity. After it's Landing on Mars!

And here's the Image Gallery from NASA...

Image Gallery

I Watched NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Landing. The event was scheduled to begin 08-05-12 at 11:30 p.m. Sunday night and go until 4 a.m. Monday morning scheduled for 1:31 a.m. Monday Live!

You Can watch Continuing Live Coverage from NASA TV, of Mars Rover Curiosity as it Explores Mars and all of the NASA TV Programs Here! (below)...

Streaming video by Ustream

Video Page Link...
http://www.ustream.tv/nasa

NASA Public

Video Library NASA Public

Landing the Mars Rover Curiosity, is (was) going to be a Very Complicated Chain of Automated Machine Events. I hope it all works perfectly!:) Below is a NASA TV Mars Rover Curiosity Landing Concept Video, on How They Plan to Do it...

Don

Why the Mars rover has a measly 2MP camera

Chances are your grandmother's $50 cell phone has a higher-resolution camera than the ones on the $2.5 billion Curiosity Mars rover.

by Amanda Kooser

August 9, 2012 2:38 PM PDT

This image is stitched together from two navigation cameras on the rover's mast.

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Geeks everywhere are riveted by the new images of Mars the Curiosity rover is beaming back to Earth. What you might be surprised to hear is just how few megapixels are involved in bringing those photos to us.
The rover sports 12 cameras in all, but the main imaging cameras have measly 2MP sensors. Wait, what? Was NASA trying to discourage the rover from taking too many vacation snapshots?
Malin Space Science Systems' Mike Ravine is the camera project manager for the mission. He told Digital Photography Review, "These designs were proposed in 2004, and you don't get to propose one specification and then go off and develop something else. 2MP with 8GB of flash [memory] didn't sound too bad in 2004. But it doesn't compare well to what you get in an iPhone today."
This all starts to make even more sense when you consider the amount of bandwidth and time needed to transmit data from Mars all the way back to our fair planet. If NASA had packed on the megapixels, it would be much more difficult to get images back in a timely manner.

Read More...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57490403-1/why-the-mars-rover-has-a-measly-2mp-camera/

Latest MSL Updates

MSL Right on Course -- TCM-5 Cancelled

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 03:43:25 PM CDT

With less than three days to go before touchdown on the Red Planet, Curiosity remains in good health, with all systems operating as expected. Given the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's consistent and stable course, today the project decided that the planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver 5 (TCM-5) and its corresponding update to parameters for the autonomous software controlling events during entry, descent and landing will not be necessary. As of 12:35 p.m. today PDT (3:35 p.m. EDT), the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft was approximately 468,000 miles (753,200 kilometers) from Mars, or a little less than twice the distance from Earth to the moon. It is traveling at about 8,000 mph (3,576 meters per second). It will gradually increase in speed to about 13,200 mph (5,900 meters per second) by the time it reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere.

Read More...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html