Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Curiosity's heat shield falling toward Mars

Curiosity's heat shield falling toward Mars
Curiosity's heat shield falling toward Mars A color MARDI image from the descent sequence shows the heat shield falling far below the rover. It was taken Sol 0 (2012-08-06 05:15:39 UTC). NASA / JPL / MSSS / Emily Lakdawalla

The photo has been processed to reduce compression artifacts (using a Gaussian blur, a slight downsize, and a bit of sharpening).