Photo of the week: The surface of Mars

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curiosity, Gale Crate, Mars rover, panoramia

This mosaic image shows part of the left side of NASA’s Curiosity rover and two blast marks from the descent stage’s rocket engines.Caption and image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

This week has been all about Mars and the Curiosity rover. We’ve posted lots of images taken on the Martian surface this week including a pretty awesome color panorama. We’ve selected a new image as our Photo of the Week as it shows the left side of Curiosity, blast marks from the mission’s descent stage and the rim of the Gale Crater.

Curiosity rover snaps first color panoramic of Mars

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curiosity, Gale Crater, Mars, nasa mission, panorama, photos, rover

This is the first 360-degree panorama in color of the Gale Crater landing site taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The panorama was made from thumbnail versions of images taken by the Mast Camera. Caption and image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

We’re loving all these photographs! Curiosity, the Mars rover that landed on the red planet just three days ago, has been snapping away and feeding our obsession with this amazing NASA mission. For the next 23 months, the rover will analyze rock and ground samples in the fascinating Gale Crater to see if it had, or still has, conditions that are favorable to microbial life.

The panorama above, which was taken today, is made up of 130 images. According to NASA, the image was brightened a bit as Mars receives only half the sunlight Earth does.

Here’s a closer look at a portion of the shot:

This is a portion of the first color 360-degree panorama from NASA’s Curiosity rover, made up of thumbnails, which are small copies of higher-resolution images. Photo and caption courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

We can’t wait to see a closeup of the mountain’s summit!

Highly-anticipated Curiosity landing, Perseid meteor shower and more in August 2012

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curiosity, Mars rover, Perseid meteor shower, video seven minutes of terror

There’s going to be a lot of news from Mars this month as a one-ton rover – fondly known as Curiosity – attempts to make its way to the surface of the red planet.

The mission, which launched in November of 2011, is a massive endeavor that aims to answer the age-old question of Mars’ habitability, among other things. Curiosity is expected to land on the Martian surface at 1:30 a.m. ET Monday, Aug. 6. And, as we’ve mentioned previously, we’re more than a bit worried about the now-famous “Seven minutes of Terror.” That’s the time it’ll take Curiosity to get from the top of Mars’ atmosphere to its surface. (If you haven’t seen the video, you must.) Anyone else experiencing a bit of anxiety?

In honor of the mission, we’ve placed a countdown on the left side of our homepage. Nothing fancy … it’ll work for now.

August brings some other news, including the Perseid meteor shower. Check out the video below for more information about that as well as some other interesting things you could see in the night sky this August.

Seven minutes of terror – Landing the Curiosity rover on Mars

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curiosity, Mars rover, rover, seven minutes of terror

Curiosity, a one-ton rover headed straight for Mars, is scheduled to land on the red planet in early August. “The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate whether one of the most intriguing places on Mars ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life,” according to NASA.

Here’s an intense video explaining the challenges of landing the car-sized rover on Mars. (On a scale of one to 10, NASA said landing on the planet is a 20!) In seven minutes time, the rover has to go from 13,000-miles-per-hour to zero.

The whole scenario seems impossible! I can’t believe scientists can actually do this. Good luck, Curiosity. Go get ‘em!

Just in case you were wondering about previous missions to Mars, here’s a great infographic I posted on Twitter yesterday. Follow me @LM_Ortiz

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration