IT Infrastructure: Mars in Color: Curiosity Beams Back Photos of Martian Landscape

The view from the red planet just keeps getting better and better. NASA has released stunning new color images of the Martian surface and Mount Sharp, its eventual research destination. In some cases, NASA scientists enhanced the images, obtained by the rover's 34mm and 100mm mast cameras, releasing a color image in one version to show the Martian scene as it would appear under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain. Scientists are already learning much about Mount Sharp that they were unable to discover from the space agency's orbiting satellites, which indicated that the lower reaches of Mount Sharp are composed of relatively flat-lying strata that bear hydrated minerals, but did not reveal hydrated minerals in the higher, overlying strata. With the help of NASA's Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express, NASA's Deep Space Network of antennas across the globe receive the transmissions beamed back from Curiosity as it continues to dazzle earthlings around the globe.