This is what Curiosity saw as it landed on Mars
I can't wait to see the higher definition videos.  Also - there was quite a bit of dust being blown around there.<p>It will be interesting to see if there is any followup as to whether the SkyCrane maneuver is really required, or, whether in the future, we can land directly on rocket engines.  Particularly with the Plutonium power supply - no need to be concerned about solar cells getting covered in dust.<p>Also - I seem to recall that there can be fairly significant dust storms on mars anyways - so it's not as though landing without rocket engines means that the Rover will be immune from getting struck by pebbles/rockets/dust.