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Nasa has released amazing new images sent back from Mars, after the landing of its Perseverance rover.

The first shows the robot heading down to the ground on Thursday to make its landing, in a deep crater near the planet's equator called Jezero.

It was captured by the rocket cradle that safely lowered the rover down to the Martian surface.

Adam Steltzner, the Perseverance rover's chief engineer, said the downward-looking view on to Perseverance would become an iconic image in the history of space exploration.

"This is an image of the rover Perseverance slung beneath the descent stage, its propulsion backpack, as it is being lowered to the surface of Mars," he explained.

"You can see the dust kicked up by the engines. We're probably about 2m or so above the surface of Mars.

"You can see the mechanical bridles that hold the rover underneath the descent stage - three straight lines heading down to the top deck. And then the curly electrical umbilical that is taking all of the electrical signals from the descent stage down to the computer inside the belly of the rover, [including] the ones and zeros that represent this image.

Another image shows the view from a satellite that captures the rover in the parachute phase of its descent.

It was a huge technical achievement because the satellite - the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - was around 700km from Perseverance at the time and travelling at about 3km/s.

The Perseverance Twitter account released it, saying: "Every picture tells a story. This one captures me in midair, floating over Mars while hanging from my parachute during the final #CountdownToMars"

The first colour image was also released from Perseverance on the Mars' surface.

"An open horizon, with so much to explore. Can't wait to get going," the Perseverance account tweeted.

Perseverance has been put in a Martian crater known as Jezero where it will search for signs of past microbial life.

Another picture showed the robot's wheel about to start in its quest.

Perseverance's tweet read: "I love rocks. Look at these right next to my wheel. Are they volcanic or sedimentary? What story do they tell? Can't wait to find out."

Nasa is promising more pictures in the next few days.

Perseverance has a massive amount of data in its memory banks which it is slowly transferring to Earth.

This will include short films shot during the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence - with sound.

We cannot wait!