Facts about Planet Mars

The fourth planet from the sun in the solar system is Mars, which is named after the Roman god of War. Past missions to Mars includes NASA’s Mariner 4 in 1964, soviet probes Mars2 and Mars3 launched in 1971, NASA’s Viking Program in 1975, soviet Probes, phobos 1 & 2 in 1988, NASA’s Mars observer 1992, NASA’s Mars Global surveyor in 1996, NASA’s Mars Odyssey in 2001 (still in orbit as on Jun2007), ESA’s Mars Express in 2003, NASA’s Mars exploration rovers, Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-B) in 2003 and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005. The above expeditions have brought minute information and the facts about Mars. This article is an attempt to analyze them.

The facts about Mars cane studied under its physical features, geological factors, and presence of water on the surface, atmosphere of Mars, climatic conditions, Mars-Earth comparison and Life on Mars.

Physical features
The size of Mars is half of the Earth. It weighs only one tenth of our planet. Its surface area is marginally less than the Earth’s total dry land area. The red-orange colour of the Mar’s surface is attributed to the presence of iron oxide, commonly known as rust.

Geological factors
The arbitral observations of the various missions and the collection of meteorite have revealed that the surface of Mars is rock material; basalt and some area contain silica similar to andesitic stones on the Earth. Of course, much of the Mar’s surfaces contain Iron Oxide.

Water
The presence of liquid water on Mars is ruled out because of low atmospheric pressure. NASA’s global surveyor camera pictures have reinforced the view. But there are two polar ice caps in Mars, Planum Boreum in the North and Planum Australe at the South. According to NASA, if one ice cap at south polar melted, that would inundate the entire Mar’s surface with water level sanding at 11 m on the surface.

Atmosphere of Mars:
According to the study made, the atmosphere of Mars contains 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon. The oxygen and water are present at very low level. It has lot of dust particles.

Climatic conditions
It has been found that the season on the Mars is like that of earth. Mars has similar tilt like the earth around its axis. This makes the seasons are also similar. However, the orbit of the mars around the Sun is different than that of the Earth. Its distance from the Sun and the different orbit make the Mars to have twice the length of the season as it is on the Earth. It has also been found that the climate on the southern hemisphere of mars is more extreme than that of northern hemisphere. Mars has more dust storms and they occur when it is very near to Sun.

Mars and Earth- some comparisons
The distance of the Mars from the sun is approximately 230 million kilometers. It takes 687 earth days for the Mars to come around the Sun. One day of the Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds. One year on Mars is equal to 1 year, 320 days and 18.2 hours. The axial tilt of Mars is 25.19 degrees, very near to that of the Earth.

Just like the Earth has a Moon, revolving around it, Mars has two Moons. It was found out by Asaph Hall in the year 1877. They have been named as Phobos and Deimos. The names are the two characters in Greek mythology who accompanied their father, the God of War, into battle. The motions of these two natural satellites from the surface of Mars are very interesting. The Phobos takes just 11 hours to rise and set. But it rises in the west and sets in the east. The Deimos, on the other hand, takes 2.7 days to rise in the east and set in the west. It takes another 2.7 days to reappear. While the phobos appear on the surface of Mars one third of the size of the Moon as it appears from the surface of the earth, the Deimos looks like a bright star.

Life on Mars
Whether human or any life on the Mars is possible? According to scientists, the orbit of the Mars is half an astronomical unit beyond the habitable zone of the Sun. Hence, the possibility of any living organisms on the surface of the Mars is very remote. Thin atmosphere, poor insulation against bombardment, solar wind and insufficient atmospheric pressure are some more reasons for the non-existence of life in Mars.

Planet Mars – interesting facts
Some interesting facts about planet Mars are as given below:
With the help of various Landers, rovers and orbiters, it is possible to study the astronomy of Mars from its surface. The Earth and Moon are visible from there. The transits of the Earth, Mercury and Venus can also been seen from Mars.
The color of Mars is distinct yellow, orange or reddish.
The next opposition, the closest approach of Mars to the earth is on December 27th 2007.

Let us watch Mars on that day to know to more about that.