I've read that when the MSL Rover Relays through the MRO (which seems to be the LIDAR communications) the link is about 2Mb/s, but a constant direct link to Ear

I've read that when the MSL Rover Relays through the MRO (which seems to be the LIDAR communications) the link is about 2Mb/s, but a constant direct link to Earth over UHF is only 500 bits/s