Rover camera takes Mars panorama

Nasa's new Mars rover has returned its first 360-degree colour panorama from the surface of the Red Planet.

The Curiosity robot used its wideangle science camera placed high up on a mast to acquire the frames.

The low-resolution vista shows at centre the big mountain that lies in the middle of Gale Crater, the deep depression in which the rover landed.

Mike Malin, who leads the Mastcam team, told our correspondent Jonathan Amos about the cameras on Curiosity.