For the first day or so, NASA engineers will be working with the rover to check out its systems and make sure nothing was damaged or altered during its 350-million-mile journey through space or during its landing. Watkins said one of the first things researchers will do is deploy a small antennae on the rover that should enable it to communicate directly with Earth - without any relay assistance from a Mars orbiter.

The NASA rover Curiosity descending under its 51-foot-parachute to the Martian surface. (Image: NASA)

In a day or two, the rover will deploy its mast, which should enable Curiosity to take pictures of its surroundings.

It could take weeks to check all of Curiosity's instruments, according to NASA. That means the rover may not begin actually moving through the crater until September.

Miguel San Martin, a chief engineer on the Curiosity team, noted that engineers will be working to verify the coordinates of the rover's landing site.