The Curiosity rover which landed on the surface of Mars on Monday has beamed back its first images of the Red Planet.
Curiosity captured almost 300 colour images during its descent. When put together they show the descent from the heat shield falling away to the moment it touches down. A video of the descent can be seen here.
They are a preview of more than one thousand images of the descent currently held in the rover’s onboard memory.
The image below shows dust clouds that were generated when the Curiosity rover was being lowered to the surface. At this point, Curiosity is about 70 feet (20 metres) above the ground.
They show the direct effects of rocket motor plumes on Mars and show there is a powder-like dust on the Martian surface.
Images like these will be pored over by scientists hoping discover more about the environment the rover will be operating in for the next few years.
Mike Malin, an imaging scientist for the Mars Science Lab mission at Malin Space Systems in San Diego, said:
The black and white images below are taken with different cameras, known as Hazard Avoidance Cameras. They are higher resolution and the rover's tyres can be seen in the foreground.
This image shows what lies ahead for the rover - its main science target, the slopes of Mount Sharp.
Mount Sharp stands at a height of about 3.4 miles and is the main reason why the Curiosity team chose the Gale crater as a landing location.
Over the next few years the rover will investigate the mountain's lower layers, which scientists think hold clues to past environmental change.