NASA's rover Curiosity successfully carried out a highly challenging landing on Mars early Monday, transmitting images back to Earth after traveling hundreds of millions of miles through space to explore the red planet. Scientists praised the landing Monday. "This is a stunning achievement. The engineering went flawlessly," said Scott Hubbard, who was the first Mars program director at NASA headquarters and is now a consulting professor at Stanford University. The 10 science instruments aboard Curiosity are in "perfect health," and testing and calibration are under way, NASA said Monday. Some rover team specialists are analyzing the data from the landing, while others are preparing Curiosity for exploring Gale Crater, where it landed, NASA said. On its first full day on Mars, the rover is tasked with raising its high-gain antenna, enabling it to communicate directly with Earth at higher data rates. The primary method of transmitting data is through the orbiters, because that is more energy-efficient.
@highlight
Testing and calibration are under way, NASA says
@highlight
President Barack Obama hails "an unprecedented feat of technology"
@highlight
Rover Curiosity's first stop is Gale Crater, which may have once contained a lake
@highlight
The vehicle will be controlled from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Curiosity
Curiosity
Rover Curiosity
This jaw-dropping landing process, involving a sky crane and the world's largest supersonic parachute, allowed the spacecraft carrying @placeholder to target the landing area that scientists had meticulously chosen.
Earth
Earth
Rocks and minerals found on @placeholder are different than on Mars, but the idea of a mountain made of layers is familiar to scientists.
Earth
Earth
Unlike on @placeholder, however, Mars has no plate tectonics, so the Martian layers are flat and not disrupted as they would be on Earth.
Mars
Mars
Mars
Unlike on Earth, however, @placeholder has no plate tectonics, so the Martian layers are flat and not disrupted as they would be on Earth.
Earth
Earth
Unlike on Earth, however, Mars has no plate tectonics, so the Martian layers are flat and not disrupted as they would be on @placeholder.
Curiosity
Curiosity
Rover Curiosity
If the planet does harbor liquid water today, it would have to be deep below the surface, perhaps peeking out in a few special places, but not likely to be seen by @placeholder, Squyres said.
Curiosity
Curiosity
Rover Curiosity
There aren't specific molecules that scientists are looking for with @placeholder.