Rover Curiosity and parachute decends to surface of Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on August 5, 2012 PDT. The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Curiosity and its parachute, seen in the center of the white box. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the sand dunes that fringe "Mt. Sharp." Curiosity was released from the back shell sometime after this image was acquired. The image scale is 13.2 inches (33.6 centimeters) per pixel . UPI/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona