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Where it is:142 million mile ( 228 million kilometers ) from the Lord’s Day , on average
How expectant it is:4,222 miles ( 6,795 klick ) wide , about half the diameter of land
A global view of Mars from orbit, showing one of the planet’s frosty polar ice caps on top.
How long a day lasts:24.6 hours
How long a yr lasts:669.6 Martian days ( sols ) , or 687 Earth days
standard atmosphere : Extremely thin , about 95 % carbon copy dioxide
A composite image showing the comparable sizes of Earth and Mars. Earth’s diameter is roughly twice that of Mars.
Temperature : Minus 225 to 70 degree Fahrenheit ( minus 143 to 20 degree Celsius )
Mars , the fourth planet from the sun , is a dry , rocky macrocosm . Its far-famed red color has garner it the cognomen the Red Planet . Mars has enchant hoi polloi throughout history , and today , it is one of the most explored places in thesolar arrangement , with many rovers and artificial satellite search the planet for grounds of past or present lifetime .
Mars orbit at an intermediate space of 142 million Admiralty mile ( 228 million kilometer ) from the sun . Its orbit is about 1.5 time the size of Earth ’s . Sunlight takes about 13 minutes to get to Mars , while it ingest around 8 minutes to get through our planet .
A composite image showing Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Past mission from Earth to the Red Planet have taken anywhere from128 to 333 days , bet on how far apart the planets were in their sphere at the meter . While many robotic missions have visited Mars , no human has ever typeset foot there . Various missions by the world ’s space agencies plan to change this in the fall decennary .
5 fast facts about Mars
Everything you need to know about Mars
Is Mars bigger than Earth?
Mars is smaller than Earth . It has a diameter of or so 4,222 naut mi ( 6,794 km ) — about half Earth ’s diameter , according to theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) .
The Red Planet is rocky , much like Earth . The inner complex body part of Mars is also similar to Earth ’s , NASA rovers have revealed . Mars ' out crust is 6 to 30 miles ( 10 to 50 km ) thick and is composed in the main of iron , magnesium , aluminium , calcium and potassium , allot to NASA . Below that is a rocky mantle that ’s 770 to 1,170 land mile ( 1,240 to 1,880 kilometre ) thick , which surrounds a dense core that ’s made of iron , atomic number 28 and sulfur and has a radius of 930 to 1,300 miles ( 1,500 to 2,100 km ) .
Does Mars have a moon?
Mars has two small , potato - shaped Sun Myung Moon , call off Phobos and Deimos . These lunation are named for two sons of the Hellenic god of war , Ares , which the Romans prognosticate Mars . The names Phobos and Deimos intend " fear " and " affright . "
The inmost moon , Phobos , has lot of craters and is roughly 13.8 miles ( 22.2 km ) in diameter . In about 50 million years , it is expected to break up or crash into Mars .
Deimos revolve 2.5 times farther from Mars than Phobos does and is half the size — about 7.8 miles ( 12.6 km ) across . Both moons are made mostly from rock and iron andmay have once been asteroidsthat got captured by Mars ' gravitative pull .
A composite image showing some of the NASA vehicles that have explored Mars. Clockwise from top left: Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, InSight lander, Odyssey orbiter, MAVEN orbiter, Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Is there life on Mars?
NASA scientist retrieve lifemay have once been plentiful on Mars , as there is a lot of evidence that the planet used to be much warmer and bed wetter billions of twelvemonth ago . Whether there is anything alive today on Mars is not known .
However , scientist can make some educated guesses about the form of life that might be there or might have live there in the past . If there is lifespan on Mars today , it is probably microscopic — teeny - tiny organisms living beneath the Martian territory .
NASA ’s Perseverance roamer has spend years drilling into Martian rocks to take in sample , in promise that scientists can one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. essay them for sign of life history . Scientists areworking on plansto bring those samples back to Earth .
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS)
Is there water on Mars?
Although Mars is a ironical major planet today , lots of evidence suggests there were once ocean and rivers all over Mars . Linescarved into rocksshow where piss once flowed , and there may have even beensandy beacheslike we have on Earth today . However , sometime in the past 2 billion years or so , Mars ' water dried up .
Some satellite have found signaling of water in the form of frostat the top of Mars ' tallest volcanoesand inburied frozen lakesdeep below the planet ’s surface . But for now , no fluent water has been spot on the Red Planet .
Have humans explored Mars?
Humans have never been to Mars , but we ’ve been studying it for hundreds of years — start with British astronomer William Herschel , who watched the Red Planet through an early scope in the late 1700s .
The first space vehicle to successfully reach Mars was NASA ’s Mariner 4 investigation , in July 1965 . Flying without any humans on board , the investigation soared past Mars and send back picture of the major planet ’s surface , according to NASA .
In 1971 , NASA ’s Mariner 9 became the first mission to successfully orbit Mars . The Viking 1 and 2 landers were the first man - made objects to make it to the Red Planet ’s control surface and survive for more than a few minutes , when they touch on down in 1976 , fit in to The Planetary Society . From the airfoil , they lease photos and conduct the first hunt for lifetime on the major planet .
(Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)
The current group of automaton on Mars includes NASA ’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers , both of which have made incredible scientific discoveries . Perseverance carried Ingenuity , the first helicopter to aviate on Mars , which engage many incredible images before several of itsrotor leaf blade brokeduring a uncut landing in 2024 . China ’s Zhurong rover successfully landed on Mars in 2021 , and it has beam back beautiful ikon , andeven soundsfrom the airfoil .
Many other delegation , both past and present , have revealed amazing insight about the planet ’s history , and future planned missions should help continue this progress . NASA aims to send world to research the Red Planet in the 2030s , though there is no specific architectural plan to do so yet .
Mars pictures
A globular horizon of Mars from ambit , showing one of the major planet ’s frosty polar ice cap on top .
A close - up of one of Mars ' polar chicken feed cap , cover in whitened hoarfrost .
A satellite persona of a detritus devil frustrate across the surface of Mars . These cyclones of detritus can tower a Roman mile eminent and are visible from orbit .
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
The bumpy , stale aerofoil of Mars snap by NASA ’s Viking lander .
A NASA bird of passage rupture this photograph of an iron meteorite sitting on the Martian surface .
Four Martian volcano seen by the European Space Agency ’s Mars Express orbiter . The top volcano is Olympus Mons , the tallest mint in the solar system .
(Image credit: NASA/JPL)
Discover more about Mars
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(Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell)
(Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)
