Mars, The Red Planet
Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. Itβs dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars is one of Earth's two closest planetary neighbors (Venus is the other). Mars is one of the easiest planets to spot in the night sky β it looks like a bright red point of light.
Despite being inhospitable to humans, robotic explorers β like NASA's Perseverance rover β are serving as pathfinders to eventually get humans to the surface of the Red Planet.
Quick facts about Mars
- Small World
- Mars is 53% smaller than Earth
- Fourth Rock
- Mars is 1.52 AU from the Sun, Earth = 1 AU
- More Time
- A Martian day is a little longer than Earth's; a Mars year is almost 2 Earth years
- Rocky Planet
- Mar's Surface has been altered by volcanoes, impacts, winds and crustal movement
- Bring a Spacesuit
- Mars' atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen
- Two Moons
- Phobos and Deimos are small compared to the planet
- Ringless
- Mars has no rings
- Many Missions
- The first succes was NASA's Mariner 4 flyby in 1965
- The Search for Life
- Missions are determining Mars' past and future potential for life
- The Red Planet
- Iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize or rust, causeing the soil and atmosphere to look red