The probe's battery will operate for only a few days, but the main point of the mission is to see whether it can be brought down safely, with all its instruments intact.
Dr Stephen Lewis, of the Open University, who co-heads the team that will receive the data, said: "This is really a test to see if we can land on Mars. We are learning how to do it and seeing if we have all our calculations right.
"It will be nerve-racking six minutes of terror, and by that stage there is nothing anyone can do if things go wrong, and there are 100 things that need to go right.
"These are incredibly complicated machines, and everything has to work, so all you can do is cross your fingers.
"There is also danger that a probe could bring bacteria from Earth. It would be dreadful if we sent a rover up looking for life and the readings were tainted by microbes we brought ourselves."
Once on the surface, instruments will sample the humidity and dust at the landing site. Touchdown is close to Nasa's Opportunity rover and there is a chance the robot will capture a photograph of the probe coming in to land.
Mars is thought to be the best chance of finding evidence of extraterrestrial life because it once had running water and an atmosphere.
The hope of discovering life was raised in 2014 when methane was recorded by Nasa's Curiosity rover. In the new book Aliens, Professor Monica Grady, of the Open University, said methane could provide evidence of life on Mars.
