More Cool Sites

Th next planet out in our Solar System has been in recent news talks lately. With the recent 40th anniversary commemoration of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20th, there have been talks of venturing further into space.

According to the Associated Press, “NASA’s new boss says he will be “incredibly disappointed” if people aren’t on Mars — or even beyond it — in his lifetime.” Although if you’ve forgotten, we have not been back to the moon since 1972. To read more about the new NASA boss and his aspirations, here’s a link to New NASA boss: Astronauts on Mars in his lifetime.

Below, we have compiled a list of interesting facts about Mars for your enjoyment.

Interesting Facts about Mars

• Mars, named after the Roman god of war, is the fourth planet from the Sun.
• Mars is also called the “Red Planet” due its reddish appearance from its iron oxide surface concentration.
• Mars is home to the largest mountain in our Solar System. Called “Olympus Mons”, it rises 15.5 miles into the sky and is 372 miles across!
• A hundred pound man on Earth would only weigh 38 pounds on Mars.
• Scientists have determined that Mars used to have large amounts of surface water.
• The south and north polar caps of Mars are made largely of ice, similar to Earth
• Mars has two moons, Phobos and Demois.
• Due to the extreme closeness of Phobos to the planet, it is expected to either someday crash into Mars or, more likely, form into a ring system around Mars.
• Phobos actually makes an orbit around Mars quicker than Mars spins.
• It takes 687 Earth days for Mars to make one orbit around the Sun.
• A day on Mars last just longer than an Earth day at 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds.
• The surface temperature on Mars ranges from −140 °C (−220 °F) to 20 °C (68 °F).
• Mars has about half of the radius of Earth.

This image helps give a visual perspective on the size comparison.

To view NASA’s plan for future space missions to Mars, visit NASA’s website.

Bookmark Us