The red planet Mars, named for the Roman god of war, has long been an omen in the night sky. Now, the world is a cold, barren desert with few signs of liquid water. But after decades of study using orbiters, landers, and rovers, scientists have revealed Mars as a dynamic, windblown landscape that could—just maybe—harbor microbial life beneath its rusty surface even today.
With a radius of 2, miles, Mars is the seventh largest planet in our solar system and about half the diameter of Earth. Its surface gravity is Mars rotates on its axis every Whichever hemisphere is tilted closer to the sun experiences spring and summer, while the hemisphere tilted away gets fall and winter. At two specific moments each year—called the equinoxes—both hemispheres receive equal illumination.
But for several reasons, seasons on Mars are different from those on Earth. For one, Mars is on average about 50 percent farther from the sun than Earth is, with an average orbital distance of million miles. This means that it takes Mars longer to complete a single orbit, stretching out its year and the lengths of its seasons.
On Mars, a year lasts The primary driver of modern Martian geology is its atmosphere, which is mostly made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon. By Earth standards, the air is preposterously thin; air pressure atop Mount Everest is about 50 times higher than it is at the Martian surface. Despite the thin air, Martian breezes can gust up to 60 miles an hour, kicking up dust that fuels huge dust storms and massive fields of alien sand dunes.
Once upon a time, though, wind and water flowed across the red planet. Not so today: Though water ice abounds under the Martian surface and in its polar ice caps, there are no large bodies of liquid water on the surface there today. Mars also lacks an active plate tectonic system, the geologic engine that drives our active Earth, and is also missing a planetary magnetic field.
But in the ancient past—up until about 4. What shut down the Martian dynamo? Scientists are still trying to figure out. The peak is so massive, it curves with the surface of Mars. If you stood at the outer edge of Olympus Mons, its summit would lie beyond the horizon. A Grand Scale This infographic uses composite orbiter images and an outline of the United States to show the scale of the Valles Marineris. This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about Mars.
Mars Resources. NASA scientists are calling for a framework that provides context for findings related to the search for life.
Are We Alone in the Universe? Catch Mars mania as an exhibit visits more than a dozen towns across the U. Two microphones aboard the six-wheeled spacecraft add a new dimension to the way scientists and engineers explore the Red Planet.
JPL's lucky peanuts are an unofficial tradition at big mission events. Full Moon Guide: October - November A new paper details how the hydrological cycle of the now-dry lake at Jezero Crater is more complicated than originally thought. The spacecraft will continue collecting data about Mars, but engineers will stop sending commands until mid-October. The dusty rocks of Jezero Crater are beginning to tell their story — thanks to the seven powerful science cameras aboard Perseverance. This year, the minimum extent of Arctic sea ice dropped to 1.
Researchers will use Webb to observe 17 actively forming planetary systems. The lander cleared enough dust from one solar panel to keep its seismometer on through the summer, allowing scientists to study three big quakes. Two interactive web experiences let you explore the Martian surface, as seen by cameras aboard the rover and orbiters flying overhead. Scientists found evidence that an area on Mars called Arabia Terra had thousands of "super eruptions" over a million-year period.
Full Moon Guide: September - October What's the next big thing? What might space missions in and beyond set out to discover? Perseverance successfully collected its first pair of rock samples, and scientists already are gaining new insights into the region. Is there really a "stone face" on Mars? There is a feature that, when the sun shines at the right angle, looks like a face.
But when the sun shines on it from a different angle, it doesn't look like a face anymore. It was very exciting. One of the guys would go through the pictures there were thousands! There are several odd-looking features like the "face. We believe that these are just natural features that our human eyes and brains "see" as faces, etc. This is much like similar features on Earth. Down in Arizona near where Geronimo lived, there is a mountain named for him because when you look at it from a certain angle, it looks like a profile of a Native American's face.
Are there any plans to have a satellite orbit Mars like the one that is orbiting Jupiter? Yes, we sent a Mars Orbiter a year or two ago, but unfortunately it malfunctioned just as it got to Mars. A new Mars Orbiter is being worked on. I'm not sure when it will be launched, probably in the next year or so. How would you feel about traveling to Mars? How long will it take? I would love to visit Mars — it would be very exciting to explore the planet! But I wouldn't want to live there.
We would have to take along almost everything we need to survive — air, water, food, shelter. It's a long way to Mars. How long it would take to get there depends on how you traveled. Let's see — at its closest Mars is about 45,, miles away. If we could drive a car along a highway to Mars!!?!
Even so the shuttle would take days to get there. In reality, we can't go straight to Mars. We take a curved path, and it would take roughly six months. Now that's a long trip! What are some interesting facts about Mars? There's a neat article on the soil of Mars in Mercury magazine, which is published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Here are some highlights. Lesson plans, interactive activities, and other resources to help students learn about and explore our solar system.
Create a List. List Name Save. Rename this List. Rename this list. List Name Delete from selected List. Save to. Save to:. Save Create a List. Create a list. Save Back. Grades 6—8 , 9— Mars is also known as the Red Planet. This is because Mars is covered in soil, rock, and dust made from iron oxide which gives the surface a red rusty colour. Mars is named after the Roman god of war.
Mars has 2 moons called Deimos and Phobos. Mars is the 4th planet from the sun. It is ,, km million miles away from the sun. It would take days around 8 months to get there from Earth. Mars is smaller than Earth with a diameter of miles. This makes it the second smallest planet in our solar system. A day on Mars lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes.
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