Why is Mars Red

One of the reasons that Mars was named as 'Mars' was its red color. Red is the color of blood and often symbolizes danger and violence. Ergo, planet Mars was named after the Roman God of War. In Astrology (the mass delusion that movement of planets far way, decides fate of men), the presence of Mars signifies danger. Red is equated with fear and hence, Mars has had considerable notoriety on Earth. When it comes to human psychology, a lot of things are borne out of such symbolism. We know for sure today why Mars has a red color. That's because of advanced telescopes and space missions which have actually landed rovers on its surface and explored the soil on its surface.

Why is Mars Red in Color?

The plain, simple and crude answer to this question would be, Mars is red because of 'Rust'. To be more precise, the red color is due to 'Ferric Oxide', or to be even more precise, 'Nanophase Ferric Oxide', present abundantly in Martian soil. Yes, I can sense the amazement forming on your face, as to who would have thought, it would have such a simple explanation. We know that on Earth, any piece of Iron, when it rusts, turns reddish in color. This conjecture of Mars being red because of rust was made based on the similarity in color of rust and the observed color of Mars. It was validated after planet rovers like the 'Mars Pathfinder' actually examined the Martian surface soil and made spectroscopic studies.

People agree that beauty is skin deep; so is Martian redness. That is, the redness of the Martian surface is only due to a thin layer of red ferric oxide dust (varying in thickness from some millimeters to as much as 2 meters deep) which covers the whole planet. This fact was revealed by rovers, as they dug up the Martian soil to make a geological study.

The redness of the Martian soil is attributed to a combination of spectral properties of some minerals related to Iron. The color of any object depends on what it's made up of. Mars is reddish because the material, ferric oxide emits radiation in the red part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum. The prime mineral whose radiative emission is responsible for the red color of Mars and which is present in the Martian surface dust is nanocrystalline red hematite (Alpha- Fe₂O₃). That is what has been revealed through the studies conducted by rovers that landed on the planet and orbiters which scanned the Martian surface.

The next question which logically follows is, what process created so much of red dust on the planet surface? There are many theories regarding it, but none have been conclusively verified. One theory says that Martian surface may have had water in the past, which caused the Iron rust, while another recent theory proposes that the red dust is the result of Martian atmosphere's interaction with the thousands of meteorites that collided with the surface. Another theory says, that the red dust may have been created due to the oxidation of magnetite present on the Martian surface with quartz. There are many more theories. It may be a combination of all the suggested mechanisms or one of them. Only time and further investigation, combine with research will reveal the truth.