Yesterday, the efforts of 406 NASA team members and 3,500 Jet Propulsion Laboratory workers, with the help of teams from seven other countries, safely landed a one-ton nuclear-powered rover on the surface of Mars. The complex sequence of landing maneuvers required to slow the massive spacecraft went according to plan, at the end of which a rocket-suspended sky crane gently touched Curiosity down. Moments after landing, the rover sent images, confirming safe arrival, and setting off celebrations by team members and viewers around the world -- at home, alone, or together in viewing parties. Gathered here is a collection of images of the landing, along with new images from the surface of Mars.

An image taken by NASA's Mars science rover Curiosity shows what lies ahead for the rover -- its main science target, Mount Sharp, in this photo released by NASA on August 6, 2012. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground, and the dark bands beyond are dunes. Rising up in the distance is Mount Sharp at a height of about 3.4 miles, taller than Mt. Whitney in California. The Curiosity team hopes to drive the rover to the mountain to investigate its lower layers, which scientists think hold clues to past environmental change. The image has been linearized to remove the distorted appearance that results from its fisheye lens. (Reuters/NASA-JPL-Caltech)

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission members work in the data processing room beside Mission Control at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, on August 2, 2012 ahead of the landing of the Mars rover Curiosity. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) #

NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld (left), inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover prior to landing, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, on August 5, 2012. (Reuters/Brian van der Brug) #

About 350 area residents gathered at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Vistor Center to view a presentation on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instriument and to view NASA's coverage of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landing. (NASA/Goddard) #

Pat Gunn of New York, watches a live broadcast of the NASA Mission Control center, as the planetary rover "Curiosity" approaches Mars, in Times Square, in New York, on August 6, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) #

A viewing Party at Griffith Observatory, in Los Angeles, California. Science lovers gathered to watch the live broadcast from JPL in La Cañada Flintridge as they monitor the landing of the Mars Curiosity rover. Original here. (CC BY NC ND Flickr user waltarrrrr) #

Mars Science Laboratory Flight Director Keith Comeaux (left) talks to his team inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. (Reuters/Brian van der Brug) #

The 70 meter communications dish that is tracking NASA's Mars science laboratory at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Station at Tidbinbilla in Canberra, Australia, on August 6th, 2012. (Mark Graham/AFP/Getty Images) #

Steve Collins waits during the "Seven Minutes of Terror", as the rover approaches the surface of mars, inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, on August 5, 2012 in Pasadena. (Brian van der Brug/Getty Images) #

Image captured from a video shows members of the Mars Science Laboratory team celebrating inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility after receiving the first few images from the Curiosity rover, in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. Mission controllers said they received signals relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived the make-or-break descent and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact crater. One of the first images sent from the rover is shown on screen in the background.(Reuters/Courtesy NASA TV) #

Xavier Cabrera (front,center) of New York, celebrates in Times Square while watching a live broadcast of the NASA Mission Control center, as the planetary rover "Curiosity" successfully lands on Mars, in New York, on August 6, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) #

Image captured from a video shows members of the Mars Science Laboratory team celebrating inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, after receiving the first few images from the Curiosity rover, in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. (Reuters/Courtesy NASA TV) #

From left, bloggers Xeni Jardin, Ashley lee, and Ellen Snortland, celebrate Curiosity's safe landing on Mars surface at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on August 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing Engineer Adam Steltzner reacts after the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars, in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. The rover landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, NASA said. (Reuters/Bill Ingalls/NASA) #

Jasper Goldberg (left) and Andreas Bastian watch a live broadcast of the NASA Mission Control center, as the planetary rover "Curiosity" lands on Mars, in New York's Times Square, on August 6, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) #

Brian Schratz hugs a colleague as he celebrates a successful landing inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Brian van der Brug) #

Bloggers, Twitter and Facebook social media users, on their computers at a desk with the hashtag #CONGRATS written on it using peanuts after the Mars Rover Curiosity successfully landed on the surface of the Red Planet on August 5, 2012 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) #

Clara Ma, winner of the Mars Science Laboratory naming contest for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity (center), hugs friends and family members as Curiosity lands safely on Mars, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

This color thumbnail image was obtained by NASA's Curiosity rover during its descent to the surface of Mars on August 5. The image was obtained by the Mars Descent Imager instrument known as MARDI and shows the 15-foot (4.5-meter) diameter heat shield falling away, when it was about 50 feet (16 meters) from the spacecraft. It was obtained two and one-half minutes before touching down on the surface of Mars and about three seconds after heat shield separation. It is among the first color images Curiosity sent back from Mars. (NASA) #

(1 of 2) An orbiting probe sent to Mars previously by NASA, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), looked down on August 5 and managed to catch a glimpse of the newest member of NASA's robotic Mars team as it parachuted to the surface. If you look closely, at the lower right, you can see two white dots, the upper one is the the parachute, the lower, the spacecraft and backshell. See next image for a closer view. (NASA) #

(2 of 2) A closer view of Curiosity parachuting through the Martian atmosphere, imaged by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 5. This image was made about one minute prior to landing. (NASA) #

Dust is blown up on Mars' surface as NASA's rover Curiosity prepares to land in Gale Crater on Mars, as seen by the Mars Descent Imager on the descent. Exhaust from rockets used to suspend Curiosity's sky crane caused a bit of dust to billow up before setting the rover down. (Reuters/NASA-JPL) #

One of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, transmitted to Spaceflight Operations Facility in Pasadena, California. The rover's rear left wheel is visible at lower right.(NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images) #

Curiosity's main science target, Mount Sharp, seen shortly after landing, on August 6, 2012. The rover's shadow can be seen in the foreground, and the dark bands beyond are dunes. Rising up in the distance is the the distance is the highest peak Mount Sharp, at a height of about 3.4 miles. The Curiosity team hopes to drive the rover to the mountain to investigate its lower layers, which scientists think hold clues to past environmental change. (Reuters/NASA-JPL-Caltech) #

Pete Theisinger, project manager stands inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. Curiosity landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life. (Reuters/Brian van der Brug) #

Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity team member Miguel San Martin, Chief Engineer, Guidance, Navigation, and Control at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, left, celebrates with Adam Steltzner, MSL entry, descent and landing, right, after the successful landing of Curiosity on the surface of Mars, in Pasadena, on August 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) #

Many NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory personnel have lucky rituals they engage in to ensure a safe landing. Here, shortly after the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, Bobak Ferdosi, NASA activity lead for the mission, celebrates with other members of the mission team with the lucky haircut he had done to ensure a safe landing. Original here. (CC BY NC ND/Los Alamos National Laboratory/James Rickman) #

Mars Science Laboratory mission managers, flight controllers, scientists and administrators raise their arms at a press conference after the Mars Rover Curiosity successfully landed on the surface of the Red Planet, on August 5, 2012 in Pasadena. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) #

Mars Science Laboratory mission manager Jennifer Trosper (left), Mars Descent Imager principal investigator Michael Malin (center) and MSL deputy project scientist Joy Crisp speak at a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, on August 6, 2012. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) #

A view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing. (The team calls this day Sol 1, which is the first Martian day of operations; Sol 1 began on August 6, 2012.) and transmitted to the Spaceflight Operations Facility at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, on August 6, 2012. In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The image is murky because the MAHLI's removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected to come in during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks. The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems via Getty Images) #

Jennifer Trosper, Mars Science Laboratory mission manager, points out the communications antenna on a model of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity as she speaks during a news conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, on August 6, 2012. (Reuters/Fred Prouser) #

Postcards from Mars: Nasa releases first high-res colour images of the Red Planet as Curiosity rover takes its second drive

By Mark Prigg

PUBLISHED: 04:50 GMT, 28 August 2012 | UPDATED: 10:03 GMT, 28 August 2012

NASA has showed off the first spectacular hi resolution colour images taken by the Mars rover Curiosity, detailing a mound of layered rock where scientists plan to focus their search for the chemical ingredients of life on the Red Planet.

The stunning photographs reveal distinct tiers of near the base of the 3-mile-tall mountain that rises from the floor of the vast, ancient impact basin known as Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed on August 6 to begin its two-year mission.

They were taken as Curiosity took its second drive on the red planet, moving to take a close look at bedrock its thrusters exposed during landing.

Scroll down for video

Mount Sharp: This color image from NASA's Curiosity rover showing the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination

CURIOSITY'S SECOND DRIVE

In Curiosity's second drive, it rotated about 90 degrees, drove about 16 feet (5 meters), then rotated back about 120 degrees to face roughly the same direction from which it started.

Nasa officials said it placed Curiosity directly over a patch where one of the spacecraft’s landing engines scoured away a few inches of gravelly soil and exposed underlying rock.

Researchers plan to use a neutron-shooting instrument on the rover to check for water molecules bound into minerals at this partially excavated target, they said.

The telephoto images, taken from the 100-millimetre telephoto lens and the 34-milllimetre wide angle lens of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument, beamed back to Earth show a scene of eroded knobs and gulches on a mountainside, with geological layering clearly exposed.

Mastcam has photographed the lower slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp.

'This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go,' said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin of the Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.

'Those layers are our ultimate objective.

The dark dune field is between us and those layers.

In front of the dark sand you see redder sand, with a different composition suggested by its different colour.

The rocks in the foreground show diversity — some rounded, some angular, with different histories.

This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through,' Malin said.

Scientists estimate it will be a year before the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover, about the size of a small car, physically reaches the layers of interest at the foot of the mountain, known as Mount Sharp, 6.2 miles away from the landing site.

From earlier orbital imagery, the layers appear to contain clays and other hydrated minerals that form in the presence of water.

While previous missions to Mars have uncovered strong evidence for vast amounts of water flowing over its surface in the past, Curiosity was dispatched to hunt for organic materials and other chemistry considered necessary for microbial life to evolve.

The $2.5 billion Curiosity project, NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes to Mars, is the first to bring all the tools of a state-of-the-art geochemistry laboratory to the surface of a distant planet.

Mast camera: This image, taken by the Mast Camera, highlights the geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed

But the latest images from Curiosity, taken at a distance from its primary target of exploration, already have given scientists a new view of the formation's structure.

The layers above where scientists expect to find hydrated minerals show sharp tilts, offering a strong hint of dramatic changes in Gale Crater, located in the planet's southern hemisphere near its equator.

Mount Sharp, the name given to the towering formation at the center of the crater, is believed to be the remains of sediment that once completely filled the 96-mile-wide basin.

'This is a spectacular feature that we're seeing very early,' project scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, said as the images were released on Monday.

Mars surface: The MastCam data now reveal a strong discontinuity in the strata above and below the line of white dots

'We can sense that there is a big change on Mount Sharp.'

The higher layers are steeply slanted relative to the layers of underlying rock, the reverse of similar features found in Earth's Grand Canyon.

'The layers are tilted in the Grand Canyon due to plate tectonics, so it's typical to see older layers be more deformed and more rotated than the ones above them,' Grotzinger said.

'In this case, you have flat-line layers on Mars overlaid by tilted layers.

'The science team, of course, is deliberating over what this means.'

Nasa also released a new colour panorama showing a 360-degree view of the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover, including the highest part of Mount Sharp visible to the rover.

He added: 'This thing just kind of jumped out at us as being something very different from what we ever expected.'

Absent plate tectonics, the most likely explanation for the angled layers has to do with the physical manner in which they were built up, such as being deposited by wind or by water.

'On Earth, there's a whole host of mechanisms that can generate inclined strata,' Grotzinger said.

'Probably we're going to have to drive up there to see what those strata are made of.'

The team has also taken Curiosity for its second drive.

This image taken by a front camera on NASA's Curiosity shows track marks from the rover's two Martian drives.

Track marks from a successful drive to the scour mark known as Goulburn, an area of bedrock exposed by thrusters on the rover's descent stage.

Double act: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, fourth from right, tours NASA's Mars Curiosity double rover at the Vehicle System Test Bed, or VSTB, inside the In-Situ Instrument Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California last Thursday

Laboratory: California Gov. Jerry Brown, center, toured NASA's Mars Curiosity rover mission In-Situ Instrument Laboratory room last Wednesday

NASA said it used the rover to broadcast a message of congratulations to the Curiosity team from NASA chief Charles Bolden, a demonstration of the high bandwidth available through a pair of U.S. science satellites orbiting Mars.

'This is the first time that we've had a human voice transmitted back from another planet' beyond the moon, said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for NASA's Mars missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.