Curiosity’s second day on Mars ‘flawless’- NASA

US: NASA rover Curiosity’s second day on Mars went “flawlessly,” NASA said Wednesday, confirming the antennas, communication links and generator on the $2.5 billion robot are all working well.

“We feel very confident we have a lot of data capacity now, that we have all these links, and that was one of the major objectives of that first part of the mission,” mission manager Jennifer Trosper told reporters at a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She added that a pair of cameras -- set like two large eyes on the newly extended remote sensing mast -- will be used Thursday to give scientists their first full-color panoramic 360-degree view around the rover.

NASA released a low resolution black and white panoramic Wednesday that shows a vast sediment-covered plain, with low mountains in the distance.

AFP