Mars

Mars is the fourth and last of the terrestrial (inner) planets. It was nicknamed the "Red Planet" because of the large amounts of iron oxide (rust) that are scattered around the planet (2). Mars has proved to be the most Earth-like of all the other planets in the solar system. The Martian soil is similar to Earth’s (1) and Mars also shows a pattern of seasons similar to our own (2). There are also many volcanoes on Mars, including the largest one in the solar system, Olympus Mons (27 km high and 600 km across)(3), which is wider than Hawaii and is three times the size of Mt. Everest (1). Some volcanoes in one part of Mars are so large that they deformed the planet’s sphericity (3). These volcanoes may have poured out steam, fell as rain, made rivers, and gouged out channels, however there is no liquid water there today (1). An enormous canyon on Mars is the Valles Marineris, which is 240 km wide at one point and is 6.5 km deep (1). It is so big, it would stretch from California to New York, and the Grand Canyon would easily fit into one of the side canyons of this great chasm (3). There are ice caps on both poles of Mars, the northern one being made mostly of water which never melts, and the southern one being made of carbon dioxide which melts in the summer (1). Because of all of these things, it was concluded that Mars’ surface is the most varied of all the terrestrial planets besides Earth.

The atmosphere on Mars is very thin, the density of it being less than one percent of Earth’s (2). The atmosphere that exists is made of 95% carbon dioxide with some nitrogen and argon also existing. There is very little oxygen and water vapor on Mars, although some does exist (1). The climate on Mars varies greatly from season to season, mostly because of its elliptical orbit (2). Temperatures on Mars can range from 30º C to -130º C. Winds are common on Mars that blow at speeds of up to 200km/h. The dust stirred up from these storms make the sky look pink (1). Mars is 228 million km from the sun and has a diameter of 6794 km. Its year is 1.88 Earth years long, and there are 24.5 hours in a day. Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos (meaning fear and terror), that are rocky and crater covered. Phobos is 25 km in diameter and Deimos is 15 km in diameter.

Back