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Mars is the 2nd smallest and 4th farthest planet from the Sun. It is also on average the 2nd closest to Earth.
It is the least dense terrestrial planet with a red surface and a thin atmosphere. It is ~6779 kmTemplate:Google in diameter - about half of Earth and a bit more than the biggest moon, Ganymede.
Exploration[edit | edit source]
NASA has sent many rovers to Mars to explore its surface. There were the Viking 1 and 2 rovers, the small 1997 Sojourner, 2004 Opportunity and Spirit, 2011 Curiosity, and 2020 Perseverance. Also more rovers not by JPL were Phoenix in 2008 and InSight in 2018.
The USSR and now Russian Federation has also sent a few missions to Mars.
Life[edit | edit source]
Mars is belived to have had a magnetic field when it just formed. After it has cooled down enough, liquid water appeared on its surface, and possibly life too (along with Earth and Venus).
As Mars is small and its core is not very hot compared to the other rocky planets (Earth and Venus), the core cools down faster, and the core cooling down and eventually solidifying causes the magnetic field to deactivate. No magnetic field means that nearly all liquid water and atmosphere is stripped away by solar winds.
Today, Mars contains certain rocks and surface features that gives evidence that water has once existed there. Ice is also present on the poles.
Surface[edit | edit source]
Mars has a red color because of iron(III) oxide[1], otherwise known as rust.
Mars is known for having the tallest mountain or volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons with a height of more than 22 kilometers, almost 3 times the size of Mount Everest.
Mars has many valleys and craters that were caused by surface changing events or impacts from asteroids.
Mars has "dust devils", which are simply really small dust storms. Despite "dust" devils, dust devils clear dust and has been very useful for the solar-powered NASA rovers.