Pasadena , California ( CNN ) -- The Mars rover Curiosity successfully raised the mast that holds many of its instruments Wednesday , giving controllers a view of the ground scorched by the rockets that deposited it on the surface . The car-sized rover landed on Mars early Monday after a harrowing descent that climaxed with its being lowered by a `` skycrane '' that hovered over the landing site . Cameras mounted on Curiosity 's remote sensing mast beamed back fresh images of the site once the column was raised into position , giving NASA a view of the roughly half-meter ( 19-inch ) `` scour marks '' from the rocket exhaust . Those gouges are giving mission controllers an unexpectedly early view of the bedrock beneath the surface of Gale Crater , said John Grotzinger , a Curiosity project scientist at the California Institute of Technology . Mars rover beams back 'awesome ' shot of surface . `` Apparently , there is a harder , rockier material beneath this veneer of gravel and pebbles , and obviously there 's some impact ejecta , '' Grotzinger told reporters at NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , where controllers operate the rover . While Curiosity is n't yet ready to start driving around , `` Here we 've already got an exploration hole drilled for us , '' Grotzinger said . The mission of the mobile science laboratory is to determine whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting life . Its prime target is the 18,000-foot ( 5,500-meter ) peak at the center of Gale Crater , Mount Sharp , where scientists hope to get a layer-by-layer look at the history of the planet . Grotzinger said so far , the landscape looks somewhat familiar . `` The thing that really struck the science team about this image is that you would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture -- a little L.A. smog coming in there , '' he said . Mars rover : Is all this really necessary ? Controllers are still activating Curiosity 's instrument package , and all antennas that will beam back data to JPL `` work perfectly , '' mission manager Jennifer Trosper said Wednesday . The onboard weather monitoring unit has turned out to be `` completely healthy '' following a brief glitch reported Tuesday . The high-bandwidth antenna that aims back at Earth is beaming back `` lots and lots of data '' and the rover is expected to capture a color panorama of its surroundings on Thursday , she said . `` There are going to be some amazing images from that , '' Trosper said . Vandi Tompkins , one of Curiosity 's operators , said images like those beamed back so far will be used to program the rover 's movements when it gets under way . Because of the time needed for a radio signal from Earth to reach the rover -- about 14 minutes at Mars ' current position -- `` We do n't command the rover with a joystick or a steering wheel in real time , '' Tompkins said . `` If we were to do that , by the time we would see we were at the edge of a cliff , the rover would have driven off of it . '' Opinion : Did Mars landing make science cool again ? Instead , operators use the photos to develop a plan for the next day 's operations and transmit it to the rover , which carries it out and sends back the results . Curiosity will start its third full martian day , or sol , on Thursday . A sol is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth . The rover is supposed to run for two years , but a previous rover , Opportunity , has been working on Mars since 2004 -- well beyond the three months NASA planned . Opportunity 's sister rover , Spirit , ran from 2004 to 2010 . CNN 's John Zarrella contributed to this report .
NEW : The landscape of Sahara Desert , scientist observes . Day : Images are used to program the rover for the next day , controller says . Curiosity photos show gouges left by its dramatic landing . Some snags reported Tuesday have been resolved , controllers say .