When NASA's car-size rover Curiosity touches down on Mars at 1:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6 (assuming the dramatic landing goes well), the first picture beamed back will be the size of this black-and-white thumbnail, says NASA.
The picture was taken by a rover model at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory through the "fisheye" lens of one its Hazard-Avoidance cameras.
There's a chance that the rover could send the first image back within the first few minutes of landing, but it's more likely that this will happen about two hours after touchdown when NASA's satellite Odyssey passes over the landing site for the second time.
Larger, high-resolution color images are expected later in the week.
More from the Mars mission: