Many people here on earth are watching as a rover costing all of us around $2.5 billion searches for any signs of life past or present on Mars.

The mission will be going on over the next two years and during that time the rover, which is nick-named "Curiosity" will be drilling into rocks and picking up soil. It made its landing after a complicated landing process at around 1:30 a.m. NASA officials say could only be described as "seven minutes of terror".

It was a major success for America's space program, and it could be a major break through for science.

Eight months ago, NASA launched Curiosity towards Mars, and 352 million miles later, it was ready to land this morning. It traveled in at 13,000 miles an hour.

In order to land, the rover had to transform six times with 76 explosions that needed to be timed perfectly. The result was celebration for NASA as Curiosity sent back some images from the red planet.

Scientists say this could be reestablishing the United State's reputation in space exploration. "If anybody has been harboring about the status of U.S. leadership in space, well there's a one ton automobile sized piece of American ingenuity, and it's sitting on the surface of Mars right now," said White House Science Adviser John Holdren.

Officials from NASA say this project is a key for future space exploration and could lead to humans going to mars one day, possibly in the 2030s.