10 Characteristics of MARS

Mars It is the fourth planet from the Sun and the last of the terrestrial planets. Like the rest of the planets in the solar system (except Earth), Mars named after a mythological figure: the Roman god of war. In addition to its official name, Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of the reddish-brown color of its surface. Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system behind Mercury.

Life was believed to have existed on Mars for much of the 19th century.. The reason behind this belief was part error and part imagination. In 1877, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed what he believed to be straight lines on the surface of Mars. While others noted these lines, some suggested that they were too straight and could only be the work of intelligent life. The popular conclusion as to the nature of these lines was that they were canals built for irrigation purposes. However, with the development of more powerful telescopes in the early 20th century, astronomers were able to see the Martian surface more clearly and determine that these straight lines were merely an optical illusion. As a result, previous claims for life on Mars were without evidence and therefore ruled out.

1. Mars It is the fourth planet from the Sun and the last of the terrestrial planets, and is about 227,940,000 km from the Sun.
2. The planet named after Mars, the Roman god of war. He was known to the ancient Greeks as Ares, their god of war. This is believed to be due to the planet's blood-red color, which was also used by other ancient cultures. Chinese astronomers call Mars the "fiery star," while ancient Egyptian priests called it "Su Desher," meaning "the red one."
3. The land mass of Mars and Earth is very similar. Even though Mars is only 15% the volume and 10% the mass of Earth, it actually has a similar land mass because water covers about 70% of Earth's surface. The surface gravity of Mars is about 37% of the gravity found on Earth. This means that on Mars you could theoretically jump 3 times further than you could on Earth.
4. The highest known mountain in the solar system is on Mars. olympus mons It is a 21 km high and 600 km diameter shield volcano that formed billions of years ago. Scientists have found much recent evidence of volcanic lava that suggests that Olympus Mons may still be active. It is the second highest mountain in the entire solar system, topped only by the central peak of Rheasilvia on asteroid Vesta, which is 22 km high.
5. Mars experience huge dust storms, the largest in our solar system. This is due to the elliptical shape of the planet's orbital path around the Sun. The orbital path is more elongated than many of the other planets, and this oval-shaped orbit produces fierce dust storms that cover the entire planet and they can last many months.



6. The Sun looks about half the size of Earth when viewed from Mars. When Mars is closest to the Sun in its orbit, the southern hemisphere points towards the Sun and this causes a very short but ferociously hot summer. In the north it experiences a brief but cold winter. When the planet is furthest from the Sun, Mars experiences a long, mild summer because the northern hemisphere points toward the Sun. This compares to a long, cold winter in the south.
7. With the exception of Earth, Mars is the most hospitable to host life. Several space missions are planned over the next decade to further increase our understanding of Mars and when it has the potential for extraterrestrial life, as well as whether it may be a viable planet for a colony.
8. The composition of the atmosphere of Mars is extremely similar to that of Venus.. The main component in both atmospheres is carbon dioxide (95% for Mars, 97% for Venus), however, a runaway greenhouse effect took hold on Venus, producing temperatures above 480°C, while temperatures on Mars they never exceed 20 ° C . Therefore, something other than composition is at work. The big difference lies in the density of the two atmospheres. While Venus' atmosphere is excessively thick, Mars is quite thin. In short, Mars would be similar to Venus if it had a thicker atmosphere. Also, with such a thin atmosphere, the resulting atmospheric pressure is only about 1% of that found at sea level on Earth. That's the equivalent pressure found 35 km above the Earth's surface.
9. Like the other terrestrial planets, The interior of Mars is divided into three layers: a crust, a mantle, and a core.. Although precise measurements cannot be made, scientists can make predictions about the thickness of the planet's crust based on the depth of Valles Marineris. Such a deep and extensive valley system, located in the southern hemisphere, could not be present unless the crust there is significantly thicker than Earth's. Estimates put its thickness in the northern hemisphere at 35 km, and 80 km in the southern hemisphere. Mercury's core is believed to be approximately 3,000 km in diameter and composed primarily of iron. A lot of research is being carried out to determine whether or not the core of Mars is solid. Some scientists point to the lack of a significant magnetic field as an indication that the core is solid. However, in the last decade much data has been collected to indicate that the core is at least partly liquid. With the discovery of magnetized rocks on the planet's surface, it appears, at least, that Mars possessed a liquid core at some point in its history.
10. The orbit of Mars is remarkable for three reasons.. First of all, its eccentricity is the second largest among all the planets, smaller than that of Mercury. As a result of this more elliptical orbit, Mars' 2.07 x 108 km perihelion is much larger than its 2.49 x 108 km aphelion. Second, the evidence suggests that this high degree of eccentricity has not always been present, and may have been less than Earth's at some point in Mars' history. The cause of this change is attributed to the gravitational forces exerted on Mars by the neighboring planets. Third, of all the terrestrial planets, Mars is the only one that has a year that lasts longer than Earth's. This, of course, is due to its orbital distance. A Martian year is equal to almost 686 Earth days. It takes about 24 hours and 40 minutes for Mars to complete one full rotation, making the Martian day the closest to Earth's day.

Only 16 of the 39 missions to Mars were successful.. Starting with the USSR's Marsnik 1, which launched in 1960, 39 orbiters, landers, and rovers have been to Mars, but only 16 of those missions were successful. In 2016, Europe's Mars Exobiology program will search for signs of Martian life on the planet, as well as survey the planet's surface and terrain and map potential environmental hazards for future crewed missions to Mars.

Pieces of Mars have been found on Earth. Small amounts of the Martian atmosphere are believed to have been inside the meteorites the planet ejected. These meteorites then orbited the solar system for millions of years among the other objects and solar debris before eventually entering Earth's atmosphere and crashing to the ground. Studying this material has allowed scientists to find out more about Mars before launching space missions.

Ever Mars was believed to be the home of intelligent life. This came from the discovery of lines or grooves in the surface called canali by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. He believed that these were not of natural origin and were proof of intelligent life. However, it was later shown to be an optical illusion.

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