By Sarah Golembewski & Alicia Bevan

Mars

Size

The size of Mars can not be given in one set of numbers. Scientists describe a planet by many factors.

radius is 3,389.5 km. circumference is 21,344 km. volume is 1.63116 X 1011 km3. mass is 6.4169 x 1023 kg. Mars has 53% of the diameter of Earth. It

has about 38% of the surface area of Earth.

Size of Mars compared to Earth.

Nicknames

The Red Planet Mars has a reddish appearance, and so

that’s why it was called the Red Planet. It was Mars’ appearance that inspired people to give it its current name. It would be safe to presume that the color of war, red, was the basis for it.

Interesting Facts:Mars’

Name in Different Languages

Al-Qahira - Arabic, Indonesian, MalayAres - GreekAuqakuh - Quechua (Inca)Bahram - PersianHarmakhis - Ancient EgyptianHer Desher - EgyptianHrad - ArmenianHuo Hsing - ChineseKasei - Japanese

Labou - FrenchMa'adim - HebrewMaja - NepaliMamers - OscanMangala - SanskritMarte - SpanishMawrth - WelshNirgal - BabylonianShalbatana - AkkadianSimud - SumerianTiu - Old English

Atmosphere Composition

The atmosphere of Mars is relatively thin and is composed of carbon dioxide (95.32%).

Interesting Facts on Atmosphere

There has been interest in studying its composition since the detection of trace amounts of methane, which may indicate the presence of life on Mars, but may also be produced be a geothermal process, volcanic or hydrothermal activity.

Olympus Mons

The largest of the volcanoes in the Tharsis Montes region, as well as all known volcanoes in the solar system.

shield volcano 624 km (374 mi) in diameter, 25 km (16 mi) high, and is rimmed by a 6 km (4 mi) high scarp.

A caldera 80 km (50 mi) wide is located at the summit.

The volume of Olympus Mons is about 100 times larger than that of Mauna Loa ( The largest volcano on earth).

The entire chain of Hawaiian islands (from Kauai to Hawaii) would fit inside Olympus Mons.

Why Olympus Mons is so large

The main difference between the volcanoes on Mars and Earth is their size.

Volcanoes in the Tharsis region of Mars are 10 to 100 times larger than those anywhere on Earth.

The lava flows on the Martian surface are observed to be much longer, probably a result of higher eruption rates and lower surface gravity.

The crust on Mars doesn't move the way it does on Earth.

The crust remains stationary and the lava piles up in one, very large volcano.

Olympus Mons compared to Arizona.

Valles Marineris

The image you see is Valles Marineris. This is what the canyons may look like shortly after sunrise from an altitude of 35 miles.

Lus Chasma, largest canyon in Valles Marineris

Valles Marineris is 2500 miles long, 310 miles wide by 4.3 miles deep.

It is actually a system of several interconnected canyons, each with different names and distinctive features.

It was named after Mariner 9 because it was the first to image it.

Valles Marineris was not carved by running water – it is a gigantic fracture in Mars’ crust. Pulling apart of the surface formed the main portion of the canyon system. Massive landslides are also present in the canyons.

This shaded relief painting (to the left) is based on Viking Orbiter images and shows the Valles Marineris trough system with a map of the United States for scale. Valles Marineris is 4000 kilometers long, nearly enough to stretch from New York to California. Valles Marineris reaches a maximum depth of 10 kilometers.

Phoenix Lander

Launched in August 2007 The Phoenix Mars Mission was led by

University of Arizona. is the first in NASA's Scout Program.

Phoenix is designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil.

Prolific photographer that shot over 25000 pictures of Mars

Phoenix is officially dead because it ran out of battery power from no sun light.

Digging ArmLeft: Covering in placeRight: Covering pushed aside.

One of the first suface images taken by the Phoenix Lander.

Madler and BeerThe Aerographers

Though they were more famous for what they discovered and mapped out with

Earth’s moon, these two discovered the geography of Mars. They had made a

simple map of the planet.

Present and Future MissionsBy Nasa

2001 Mars Odyssey (launch: April 7, 2001; arrival:

October 24, 2001) – The spacecraft has taken over 130, 000 images and it continues to collect and send information to Earth. The information includes Martian geology, climate and mineralogy.

2003 Mars Exploration Mars Express Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Past Missions of Nasa Mariner 3 – Mariner 3 did not make it to Mars. Mariner 6-7 – Flew around Mars together, missed northern

volcanoes by chance, and discovered Mars’ dark features, seen from Earth, were not canals.

Mariner 8-9 – Mariner 8 failed during launch. Mariner 9 functioned in Martian Orbit for nearly a year. Completed its final transmission October 27, 1972.

Viking 1 & 2 – First two successful U.S. spacecrafts to land on the surface of Mars.

Mars Observer - Global Surveyor Pathfinder Climate Orbiter Polar Lander, Deep Space 2 Phoenix

The Tharsis region

Vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in Mars’ western hemisphere.

Home to the largest volcanoes in the solar system: the three enormous shield volcanoes,Arsia mons,Pavonis mons, and Ascraeus mons, which are collectively known as the tharsis montes.

The tallest volcano on the planet, Olympus Mons, is often associated with the Tharsis region but is actually located off the western edge of the plateau.

The name Tharsis is the Greco-Latin transliteration of the biblical tarshish, the land at western extremity of the known world.

Thermal image of the Tharsis Region

Temperature of Mars

Differing values have been reported for the average temperature on Mars, with a common value being −55 °C (−67 °F)

Actual temperature measurements from the Viking Landers range from −17.2 °C (1.0 °F) to −107 °C (−161 °F).(20C) decrease in average surface temperature, and a moderate (30C) increase in upper atmosphere temperature.

Temperatures varying from year-to-year

Surface Temperature of Mars

estimated from the Viking Orbiter Infrared Thermal Mapper data; this gives extremes from a warmest of 27 °C (81 °F) to −143 °C (−225 °F) at the winter polar caps.

Mars possesses ice caps at both poles, which mainly consist of water ice; however, there is frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) present on their surfaces.

Dry ice accumulates in the northern polar region (planum boreum) in winter only, subliming completely in summer, while the south polar region additionally has a permanent dry ice cover up to eight meters (25 feet) thick.

Both polar caps show spiral troughs, which were formerly believed to form as a result of differential solar heating, coupled with the sublimation of ice and condensation of water vapor

Evidence of Water on Mars.

Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, except at the lowest elevations for short periods.

The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters.

Landforms visible on Mars strongly suggest that liquid water has at least at times existed on the planet's surface. Huge linear swathes of scoured ground, known as outflow channels, cut across the surface in around 25 places.

These are thought to record erosion which occurred during the catastrophic release of water from subsurface aquifers, though some of these structures have also been hypothesized to result from the action of glaciers or lava.

The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water.

A permafrost mantle stretches from the pole to latitudes of about 60°.

Phobos And DeimosThe bigger moon of the two of them is Phobos. It measures 27 X 21 X 19 km and is oblong shaped. It orbit around Mars lasts less than a Martian day, bout 7.3 hours. The orbit makes the moon look like it rises in the west and sets in the east. With interesting parallel grooves about 150 m long ad 25 meters deep, Phobos is heavily cratered. The grooves seem to come from the largest grater to an odd shaped area on the other side of the moon. This shows that the grooves may have formed with the impact of

the largest crater.Deimos is covered by dust which makes it look like it has little surface area. The dust fills craters and covers some surface detail.

Phobos may not have as much dust and debri on its surface is because of its close orbit to Mars where the planet's gravity wold tend to pull debris off the moon. Deimos has an even lower escape velocity than Phobos does with only 12 m/sec.

More Phobos and Deimos

Both moons are probably about 2 billion years old and appear to have a composition very similar to carbonaceous chondrites. Since carbonaceous chondrites form in the asteroid belt, it is considered highly probable that both Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids. Both moons have a density of about 2 g/cu. cm, lower than Mars 4 g/cubic cm. This, along with their appearance makes astronomers think that Phobos and Deimos are more similar to the asteroids than Mars.

Phobos

Deimos

Borealis Basin

Also called North Polar Basin is a large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars that covers 40% of the planet

One possible explanation for the basin's low, flat and relatively crater-free topography is that the basin was formed by a single large impact.

Two simulations of a possible impact sketched a profile for the collision: low velocity (6 – 10 km/s), oblique angle and diameter 1,600 - 2,700 km

Topology map of Mars.

Mariner 4

Launch Date: November 28, 1964

It was the fourth in a series used to explore Mars in a flyby mode. It was designed to take scientific close-up observations of the planet and send them back to Earth. It passed Mars at a distance of 9,869 kilometers and recorded the first close-up picture of Mars. It has taken 22 pictures and out of those, Mariner's TV camera has scanned about 1% of the Martian surface, showing that it had ancient craters of varying sizes.

Mariner 4 had actually proved that Percival Lowell's observations with his telescope in 1890, the canals, were just optical illusions. Natural waterways may be evident in some regions, though.

Measurements of atmospheric density and the interplanetary medium are other experiments performed by the spacecraft. 

December 20, 1967, the operations of the spacecraft have stopped.

described as the "Red Planet" due to iron oxide on its surface which gives it a reddish appearance.

Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

Its apparent magnitude reaches −3.0 a brightness surpassed only by Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, and the Sun.

Mars surface appearance

Optical ground based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 km (186 miles) across when Earth and Mars are closest, because of Earth's atmosphere.

Orbit and Rotation of Mars

Mars' average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days.

The solar day on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds.

A Martian year is equal to 1.8809 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2 hours.

Mars's axial tilt is 25.19 degrees, which is similar to the axial tilt of the Earth.

Mars has seasons like the Earth, Mars they are about twice as long given its longer year.

Orbit and rotation of Mars and surrounding planets.

Gravity of Mars

The gravity on Mars is much lower than on Earth, 62% lower.

Mars gravity is 38% of Earth’s. A person weighing 100 kg here would be

38 kg there (measurement of mass not weight)

Mars is smaller than Earth in all the factors that determine the gravity of a planet.

Interesting facts about Mars gravity.

The affects of long term exposure to different strengths of gravity is an area of study concerning human exploration of other planets.

It is known that humans can suffer bone loss and other health problems, but exact studies need to be conducted to test the top-end duration of a human mission.

MIT researchers have proposed one such study involving a group of mice.

The mice would be launched aboard a small satellite, which would be spun so that the force mimics Mars’ gravity. In the proposition 15 mice will orbit Earth for five weeks.

The mission is called the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program. The project could cost over $15 million plus the cost of the launch

and is still seeking funding. By 2009, the project had engaged over 600 undergraduate, graduate, and high school students in aerospace engineering, space life sciences, and program management, earning multiple student awards.

The mission is currently scheduled to launch in 2014 or 2016.

Hellas’ Planitia

A vast meteorite impact basin located at 42° 42'S 70° 00'E_, in the Mars southern hemisphere. Also known as the Hellas Impact Basin, this landmark has a very obvious impact crater ring 2,300 km in diameter. This is one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.

Asaph Hall Asaph Hall, an American astronomer, worked as a

carpenter and a school teacher but studied the stars and became a celebrity scientist in his era. He had written several articles published in scientific articles and after he found academic positions at Harvard and US Naval Observatory.  He had traveled to Vladivostok, Russia in 1874 and San Antonio, Texas in 1882 to observe two transits of Venus.

He has used what was then, back in 1877 on August 11th and 17, the world's largest refracting telescope and discovered the two Martian moons Phobos and Deimos, each about 18 miles in diameter. He received rewards from the Royal Astronomical Society's Gold and Medal, and he was named the Naval Observatory's Professor of Mathematics by President Abraham Lincoln. 

 More Asaph

He has published almost 500 papers. His papers included studies of double stars, the mass of Mars, Mercury's perihelion, natural satellites, Saturn's rings solar and stellar parallax, and the value of pi.

Interesting Facts:

The month of March is named after Mars. The symbol for Mars looks like a shield and a

spear from the war god Mars/Ares. It is also the symbol for the male sex.

Egyptians called Mars the “the backward traveler” because Mars appeared to move backwards through the zodiac every 25.7 months.

Mars’ red color is due to iron oxide, also known as rust, and has the consistency of talcum powder. Literally, the metallic rocks on Mars are rusting.

If you were driving 60 mph in a car, it would take 271 years and 221 days to get to Mars from Earth.

More Interesting Facts:

Mars contains the largest labyrinth of intersecting canyons in the solar system called the Noctis Labyrinthus.

Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our entire solar system. These storms often have winds topping 125 mph, can last for weeks, and can cover the entire planet. They usually occur when Mars is closest to the sun.

In 1976, Viking I photographed a mesa on Mars that had the appearance of a human face. Many individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrial life argued that intelligent beings created the “Face.” Though the Mars Global Surveyor revealed that the “Face” was likely an optical illusion, believers in the “Face” charged NASA with stripping data from the new image before it was released to the public.

“Face” on Mars

The “Face“ on Mars: 1976 Viking view (left); 2001 MGS view (right)

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on-mars-search-for-life-on-mars-begins-are-we-on-the-brink-of-a-major-scientific-discovery/

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