The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with Curiosity rover were captured on film by a Mars orbiter camera about 24 hours after landing. The reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield, which was first to hit the ground, then the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with Curiosity rover were captured on film by a Mars orbiter camera about 24 hours after landing. The reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield, which was first to hit the ground, then the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona) - Image 11 of 22