From the start, they astounded viewers with the unexpected color of their work: To emulate the effects of stained glass and daylight, they abandoned the academic practice of initial underpainting in dark earth-tones.

WSJ: Victorian Avant-Garde | Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design | National Gallery of Art | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer

The initial images the SUV-size rover sent back to Earth were black and white and grainy, but one showed its wheel resting on the stony ground, and the vehicle's shadow appeared in another.

CNN: Mars landing went 'flawlessly,' scientists say

Their initial efforts involved listening with Mars Odyssey, an American craft already in orbit, and with various Earth-bound radio telescopes.

ECONOMIST: The current crop of Mars missions has got off to a bad start