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The image scale is 13.2 inches (33.6 centimeters) per pixel

The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly. Details in the parachute, such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole, are clearly seen. The cords connecting the parachute to the back shell cannot be seen, although they were seen in the image of NASA's Phoenix lander descending, perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles. The bright spot on the back shell containing Curiosity might be a specular reflection off of a shiny area. Curiosity was released from the back shell sometime after this image was acquired.

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater

one second before or one second after, we probably would be looking at an empty Martian landscape

working on this sequence since March and had to upload commands to the spacecraft about 72 hours prior to the image being taken

one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover

On the top left, part of the rover's power supply is visible

image is one-half of full resolution

firing 76 pyrotechnic charges, dropping 150 kilograms of tungsten, deploying a massive parachute and being lowered to the planet’s surface from a rocket-powered sky crane

e $2.5 billion rover, probably the last mission of its size to launch in this decade

The 500,000 lines of computer code went off without a glitch. The 76 onboard explosive devices popped off in sequence to the microsecond, throwing valves and cutting loose tether lines. So Curiosity rover's 7 minutes of terror had the happiest of endings. At 1:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, word came down: "Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars.

Communication is largely accomplished through relays to three satellites orbiting Mars or through the Deep Space Network, a system of giant interconnected antenna dishes in Madrid, Spain; Canberra, Australia; and the Mojave Desert.

By "sol 10" ("day 10"—each Martian solar day, known as a sol, is 24.66 hours long), all ten instruments should have been started up to see if they're working,

around sol 30 will the seven-foot [two-meter] robotic arm be tested