![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/mards.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
NASA scientists have said they are "astonished" at the first
\n pictures beamed back from Mars by the rover vehicle Opportunity. <\/p>\n
The images sent by the probe show a smooth plain, near a rocky outcrop.<\/p>\n
The landscape is quite unlike the boulder-strewn site on the other
\n side of Mars where its sister craft, Spirit, landed three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
Opportunity’s landing site was chosen because of evidence that water
\n once flowed there.
\n Opportunity touched down on the Martian surface at 0505GMT on Sunday,
\n and within hours the first images were transmitted to Earth.<\/p>\n
The most distinctive feature is an unusual outcrop of bedrock in the
\n distance.<\/p>\n
Professor Steve Squyres, chief scientist on the mission, was left almost
\n speechless. "I am flabbergasted. I am astonished, I’m blown away," he
\n said,"As I was looking at the pictures, I was trying to find the
\n words to tell you what we were seeing. I still can’t. I still don’t know
\n what
\n we’re
\n looking at."<\/p>\n
\n from the BBC<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA scientists have said they are "astonished" at the first pictures beamed back from Mars by the rover vehicle Opportunity. The images sent by the probe show a smooth plain, near a rocky outcrop. The landscape is quite unlike the … Continue reading