NASA's Curiosity Rover Sends Pictures Of Mars

The nuclear-powered robotic explorer "Curiosity" is safe, sound, and very busy on Mars Monday, after a dramatic, and surprisingly gentle touch-down inside a giant crater in the early morning hours.

The $2.5 billion Rover has already started transmitting photos — its first came within minutes and showed the crater where it landed, its own wheel and shadow.

As planned, the rover's early engineering images are lower resolution. Larger color images from other cameras are expected later in the week when the rover's mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed.