New Curiosity Photos Show Giant Martian Mountain, Crater Wall

The Mars Science Laboratory, better known as Curiosity, has sent back its first color photo from the Red Planet.

Curiosity snapped this photo showing the rim of the Gale Crater, the 96-mile-wide formation where it touched down early Monday morning.

Curiosity took the photo with a camera called the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. MAHLI's main function is to take high-resolution photos of rocks and soil, but as shown here, it has other applications as well.

"The image is murky because the MAHLI's removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust that was blown onto the camera during the rover's terminal descent," NASA said. "Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks.

The rover also took this photo of Mount Sharp, also known as Aeolis Mons. Curiosity is scheduled to explore the three-mile-high mountain on its two-year search for signs that Mars once supported life.

"Me & My Shadow... & Mount Sharp," the rover (or possibly a human helper) Tweeted.