Mars

By: Nathan Brown

Overview of Mars

-It is the fourth planet from the Sun.-From orbit, it looks red, which gives it the nickname, “Red Planet”.-You can also see from orbit that the atmosphere is very thin, especially when compared to Venus’s atmosphere.

-Compared to Earth, Mars’s atmosphere is 100 times thinner.

Comparison

Some More Basic FactsClosest Point: 207 million km (1.38 AU)Farthest Point: 249 million km (1.67 AU)Average Distance: 228 million km (1.52 AU)

-Mars only rotates about 40 minutes slower than Earth!-Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.-The length of the year is 1.9 times that of Earth’s year.

-687 Earth days is a year on Mars.-The density of Mars is .7 times Earth’s density.

Even More Basic Facts

-Mars’ orbital tilt is 25.19° which is pretty close to the Earth’s tilt of 23.44°.

-"While Mars is too cold now to have the liquid water needed for life, we've had evidence for past water activity on the planet from satellite images of valleys and analysis of rocks by the Rovers," Dr de Souza said.

Phobos and Deimos

-Mars has two moons that orbit fairly low, and are irregular in shape and form.

-Phobos-Only orbits at 3000 miles above Mars’ surface.-It actually orbits in as little as 7 hours, making 3 orbits

around Mars.

-Deimos-Orbits about twice as far as Phobos.

-Making a full orbit within 30 hours.

Past Missions

-Mariner 3 and 4 were one of the first spacecraft to orbit around the “Red Planet”.

-They snapped the first close up images of Mars.

-They were launched in November of 1964, with Mariner 4 doing its fly-by on July 14, 1965.

Current Missions

-Curiosity landed on Mars on August 5, 2012.-Its main goal was to check the environmental conditions which would allow human colonization on the “Red Planet”.

-What it found is nothing from astonishing, with signs of Mars “billions of years ago that offered fresh water, all of the key elemental ingredients for life, and a chemical source of energy for microbes, if any existed there,” according to NASA.

Future Missions

-The not-for-profit foundation, Mars One, is working on their plan for a permanent human settlement on Mars.

-According to Mars One, “Human settlement on Mars is possible today with existing technologies.”

-They plan on sending a cargo shipment to Mars in 2022, which will have rovers build a settlement similar to the one shown above.

-The first crew will then launch in 2024, and land in 2025.

Bibliography

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/mariner3-4-index.html#.VCBemfv4KZQhttp://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/artwork/hires/fairing.jpghttp://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/mars-size.pnghttp://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/jpl/msl/curiosity-20140805/#.VCGiWZRdX84http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-onehttp://www.universetoday.com/14822/how-far-is-mars-from-the-sun/http://www.universetoday.com/14889/mars-rotation/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mars&Display=Satshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140124093710.htmhttp://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/mars/moons.htmlhttp://www.seasky.org/solar-system/mars-deimos.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy_on_Marshttp://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/24/73524-004-AC9E8BEF.jpghttp://cdn4.sci-news.com/images/enlarge/image_1553e-Early-Mars.jpg