The US space agency has landed a huge new robot rover on Mars.

The one-tonne vehicle, known as Curiosity, touched down in a deep crater near the planet's equator after a plunging through the atmosphere.

It is going to look for evidence that Mars could once have supported life.

A signal confirming the rover was on the ground safely was relayed to Earth via Nasa's Odyssey satellite, which is in orbit around the Red Planet.

The success was greeted with a roar of approval here at mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.