First photos from Mars Curiosity Rover reach Earth

Take a moment to reflect on what I’m about to tell you. Just 30 minutes after it landed, the Mars Curiosity Rover sent back its first images from the Martian surface.

Thirty minutes? That’s how long it takes some of us to eat our breakfast cereal in the morning.

The NASA mission is designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. The exploratory vehicle today landed inside the Gale Crater and was sending pictures back to Earth within minutes.

The craft’s first image from the Red Planet has already been shared over 12 500 times on Facebook:

The second image meanwhile shows the Curiosity Rover looking at its own shadow and has been shared nearly 7 000 times:

More than 10.5-million people watched the live stream of the landing.

In some other images, the Rover’s wheels can be seen rolling along on the planet’s surface. NASA says more colour images from Mars will be available later in the week, after the rover’s mast, which will carry high-resolution cameras, is deployed.