Nasa's Mars Perseverance Rover has transmitted its first colour images of the surface of the red planet.
One picture shared via its Twitter account showed a barren and dusty landscape and the shadow of the rover across the ground.
Speaking at a Nasa press conference to announce the images, Hallie Gengl, instrument data systems operation lead for the space agency's Multimission Image-Processing Laboratory, said: "This is our first colour front Haz-Cam [hazard camera] image and our first colour image from the surface of Mars."
A statement on the rover’s Twitter account said: “An open horizon, with so much to explore. Can’t wait to get going.”
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NNYTIFISLWT24OVXAURPME6VYA.jpg?auth=1cc1f9a5a912b3522ad53104e99554db6208107a5a7873020968ad8bb9c50148&width=800&height=450)
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YSUALKWQHZNTGQSDM7QNVFXYM4.jpg?auth=4ab20b869d8884a9c1090697349c2e8b705c821a3d8ced352676fc584a73e976&width=800&height=449)
Another image taken by the rover shared on Twitter showed what appeared to be yellow rocks next to one of the vehicle’s wheels.
The “rover” tweeted: “I love rocks. Look at these right next to my wheel. Are they volcanic or sedimentary? What story do they tell? Can’t wait to find out.”