Nasa’s Curiosity Rover has transmitted its first colour photo and a low-resolution video showing the last two-and-a-half minutes of its white-knuckle dive through the Martian atmosphere, giving us earthlings a sneak peek of a spacecraft landing on another world.

Nasa’s Curiosity rover has transmitted a low-resolution video showing the last 150 seconds of its dive through the Mars atmosphere, giving Earthlings a sneak peek of a spacecraft landing on another world.

The latest Mars destination is a giant crater near the equator with an odd feature: a mountain rising from the crater floor.

Nasa said all was well ahead of its nail-biting mission to Mars, with its most advanced robotic rover poised to hunt for clues about past life and water on Earth’s nearest planetary neighbour.

A one-ton rover as big as a Mini is due to land on Mars on Monday in one of the most daring space missions ever attempted.