BALTIMORE -

Along with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in California, the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland had a lot to celebrate Sunday.

Curiosity, a rover developed by NASA, landed on the planet Mars to begin a two-year mission.

The hope is that it will help scientists learn more about the geographic make-up of the "red planet."

Dr. Jennifer Stern, a geochemist at Goddard, answered questions about Curiosity during a visit to the Maryland Science Center's space-link exhibit Monday.

Still giddy about the successful landing, Stern said: "Just seeing that landing last night was incredible, knowing everything went as planned, everything worked, seeing those first images come in."

She also pointed out that the extremely difficult landing of the rover, which involved a sky crane and the world's largest supersonic parachute, could set the stage for humans to land on Mars.

Maryland Science Center staff were excited to have someone directly involved with Curiosity on hand. Stern said she will study rocks, minerals and the atmosphere to see if life could have ever existed on Mars.

"I help with the design and testing of the experiments that are on SAM or Sample Analysis of Mars, which is one of the instruments on the Curiosity Rover," Stern said.

"It's very special because it's a new era of exploration. This space craft is going to be able to do things we've never been able to do with any other spacecraft," said science center representative Jim O'Leary. "It's an opportunity to introduce kids to discovery, how these discoveries are made, the science behind it, get them excited about science, get them excited about education," he said.

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NASA'S Goddard Space Flight Center plays key role with Curiosity