Mars is fourth planet in our solar system from the Sun, it is also known as the “Red Planet” because of the presence of iron oxide prevalent on its surface which gives it a reddish appearance. Until the first successful Mars mission in 1965 by Mariner 4, many scientists believed that liquid water is present on the planet’s surface.
1. Water on Mars
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Before the first mission to Mars, scientists believed that water is present on the surface of Mars. But didn’t found any water after the mission. Although It is believed that water used to flow around it like our Earth once. There are chance it may have had a blue sky too. However, it is not possible that it had grass, trees like Earth has now.
2. Mars and Earth have approximately the same landmass
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Although the volume of Mars is just 15% of the total volume of our planet earth and just over 10% of the Earth’s mass, but around 2/3 of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. Mars surface gravity is only about 37% of the Earth’s, it mean you can jump 3 times high on Mars compare to Earth.
3. Tallest mountain in the solar system
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Mars is home of the tallest mountain in the entire solar system called Olympus Mons, a volcano which is 21 kilometers high and 600 kilometers in diameter. It formed over billions of years, many evidence from volcanic lava flows is so recent that many scientists believe it is still be active.
4. Seasons on Mars
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Mars also has seasons like Earth. This is mostly caused by the tilt of the planet’s axis, at a similar angle to the tilt of Earth’s axis.
5. Largest dust storms in the solar system
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Not only the tallest mountain, Mars is also the home of largest dust storms in the entire solar system. They can last for many months and can cover the entire planet. The seasons are very extreme because its oval-shaped orbital path around the Sun.
6. Sun appears about half the size as it does on Earth
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At the nearest point to the Sun, the Mars southern hemisphere leans towards the Sun, which cause a short but intensely hot summer, while at the same time northern hemisphere suffer from cold winter: at its farthest point from the Sun, the Mars northern hemisphere leans towards the Sun, causing a long and mild summer, while the southern hemisphere endures a lengthy and very cold winter.
7. Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth
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Scientists have found many tiny traces of Mars atmosphere within meteorites which were violently ejected from Mars, then after orbiting the solar system for millions of years, before crash landing on our planet Earth. This helped scientists to begin studies about Mars planet prior to launching space missions.
8. Name
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Mars planet also known as “Red Planet” is named after a Roman god of war.
9. Signs of liquid water on Mars
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Mars has been known to have water in the form of ice for years. The first signs of water are dark stripes and cliffs seen in images captured by satellites.
10. One day Mars will have a ring
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Scientists believe that in the next 20 or maybe 40 million years Mars’ largest moon called Phobos will be torn apart by the gravitational forces leading to the creation of a ring that could last 100 million years.
