Nasa releases new colour images of the surface of Mars

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, The Irish Times reports.

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.”