Information of Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is commonly referred to as the Red Planet. The rocks and soil have a red or pink hue due to the iron oxiode (rust) they contain.
Hubble Telescope Picture of Mars This NASA Hubble Space Telescope view provides the most detailed complete global coverage of the red planet Mars ever seen from Earth. This picture was taken on February 25, 1995, when Mars was at a distance of 65 million miles.
Atmosphere on Mars Mars has a rocky, dry terrain with huge volcanoes and deep valleys. The atmosphere is much thinner than Earth s and is comprised primarily of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. It s gravity is about one-third of our own.
Why is the red planet red? Soil is red due to high iron content.
Largest Volcano on Mars The largest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons. It is 624 km (374 miles) in diameter; about the same size as Arizona. The altitude of Olympus Mons is three times the altitude of the largest peak on Earth, Mt. Everest.
Olympus Mons 27 kilometers above mean datum. 3x higher than Mt. Everest 2.6x taller than Mauna Kea (from sea floor base to caldera) Slope is only 2.5 o. Surrounded by an escarpment up to 6 km high. Caldera is 85 km x 60 km. 6 44
Gigantic Canyon Valles Marineris, or Mariner Valley, is a vast canyon system that runs along the Martian equator. Valles Marineris is 2500 miles long and reaches depths of up to 4 miles.
Gigantic Canyon For comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is about 500 miles long and 1 mile deep. In fact, the extent of Valles Marineris is as long as the United States and it spans about 20 percent (1/5) of the entire distance around Mars.
Seasons on Mars Like Earth, Mars has seasonal changes but the seasons last much longer. In Winter, Mars polar ice cap can reach down to 45 degrees latitude and then rapidly shrink during Spring. Dust storms are seasonal, also, as witnessed in this Hubble image.
Earth/Mars Comparison Mars Earth Distance from Sun 141.6 Million Miles 93 Million Miles Diameter 4222 Miles 7926 Miles Length of Year 687 Earth Days 365.25 Days Length of Day 24 hours 37 minutes 23 hours 56 minutes Gravity.375 that of Earth 2.66 times that of Mars Temperature Average -81 degrees F Average 57 degrees F Temperature Range -127 C to 17 C -88 C to 58 C Number of Moons 2 1
Mars, the god of War The planet was named after Mars, the Roman God of War, who was one of the most worshipped and revered gods in ancient Rome. The god Mars held a special place in the Roman Pantheon not only for his patronly influence, but because of the importance of military achievement in the republic and the Roman Empire.
Early concepts Before space exploration, Mars was considered the best candidate for harboring extraterrestrial life. Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli thought he saw straight lines crisscrossing its surface. This led to the popular belief that irrigation canals on the planet had been constructed by intelligent beings.
Percival Lowell Wealthy American Astronomer Percival Lowell mistook the Italian word canali to mean canals. (Maybe a natural mistake!) He used his own money to build the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, to study these canals. Lowell concluded that these canals had been built by intelligent Martians. 13 22
www.hencoup.com Lowell at his telescope. http://www.lowell.edu/aboutlowell/plportrait.jpg 14 23
Mariner missions In July of 1965, Mariner 4, transmitted 22 closeup pictures of Mars. All that was revealed was a surface containing many craters and naturally occurring channels but no evidence of artificial canals or flowing water.
Viking Landers Finally, in July and September 1976, Viking Landers 1 and 2 touched down on the surface of Mars. The three biology experiments aboard the landers discovered unexpected and enigmatic chemical activity in the Martian soil, but provided no clear evidence for the presence of living microorganisms in the soil near the landing sites.
Viking Landers According to scientists, Mars is self-sterilizing. They believe the combination of solar ultraviolet radiation that saturates the surface, the extreme dryness of the soil and the oxidizing nature of the soil chemistry prevent the formation of living organisms in the Martian soil. The question of life on Mars at some time in the distant past remains open.
Th e Firs t Ro ver Mars Pathfinder was the first instrumented lander and robotic rover to study the surface of Mars. Findings from the investigations carried out by scientific instruments on both the lander and the rover suggest that Mars was at one time in its past warm and wet, with water existing in its liquid state and a thicker atmosphere.
Mars Exploration Rovers Artist s Concept Image: NASA The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are currently studying how past water activity on Mars has influenced the red planet's environment over time.
Spirit In March 2005, Spirit studied rocks in the Paso Robles area that have a high sulfur content. Much of the high sulfur is contained in a hydrated iron-sulfate mineral that can only have formed in the presence of liquid water.
Opportunity Opportunity s spectrometer and microscopic imager found that rocks near the lower slopes of Endurance Crater were affected by water both before and after the crater formed.
Future Exploration of Mars Though no concrete plans are underway for a manned Mars visit early in the next century, several studies have been launched to investigate possibilities for such visits following possible unmanned missions.