The Mars Curiosity rover started her slow roll across the Martian surface today, inching about 20 feet away from her landing site, which scientists have now named after the late Ray Bradbury.
The journey provided NASA with the first shots of Curiosity's wheel tracks on the surface of Mars and established the health of Curiosity's mobility system.
"We have a fully functioning mobility system with lots of amazing exploration ahead," said Matt Heverly, the mission's lead rover driver.
Team members said it was a no-brainer to name the landing site after Bradbury, who passed away in June. "Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars," said Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity.
In the next few days, Curiosity will remain near Bradbury Landing in order to conduct instrument checks and investigate its surroundings before traveling about 1,300 feet to the east-southeast.
"Curiosity is a much more complex vehicle than earlier Mars rovers. The testing and characterization activities during the initial weeks of the mission lay important groundwork for operating our precious national resource with appropriate care," said Curiosity project manager Pete Theisinger of JPL. "Sixteen days in, we are making excellent progress."
Over the weekend, Curiosity got to use her attached laser to shoot a few rocks and expose the rocky layer just below the surface. Scientist said today that those rocks could be pieces of balsalt - or hard, dense, dark volcanic rock - within a sedimentary deposit.
Yesterday, meanwhile, NASA released a series of shots that show the rear right wheel on Curiosity moving back and forth in place before it moved away from Bradbury Landing. Click above for the gif.
In addition to the surface, Curiosity has also been keeping tabs on Mars' weather. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) has been monitoring the rover's weather station, which has recorded temperatures that range from 37 degrees Fahrenheit all the way down to minus 132 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the next week or so, daily Mars weather reports will be available on the CAB website.
Meanwhile, visual effects editor Daniel Luke Fitch has compiled the full-resolution images taken by the MARDI descent imager for a video (below) charting Curiosity's arrival on the Red Planet.
For more, check out the recent "Ask Me Anything" chat that Team Curiosity had on Reddit. PCMag's Meredith Popolo was at the JPL in California covering the Curiosity rover's arrival on Mars. For more, see her tour of JPL. Also check out 7 Minutes of Terror: Landing the Mars Curiosity Rover and How to Hack NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover.