Background Information:
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.
It has two very small, irregularly shaped moons, that are believed to be captured asteroids. From
pictures obtained from orbiters and landers, there are signs that Mars at one time had water flowing on it's
surface. It is believed that there is enough water frozen beneath the surface to cover the
entire planet. We have several missions ongoing at Mars, and alot planned for the future, including
rovers that will collect soil samples and return them to Earth.
Mars Images:
Numerous spacecraft have orbited and landed on the surface of Mars.
These are a few of the images returned:
Orbital & Mass Data:
- Average Distance from Sun : 227.9 million kilometers
- Length of Year : 1.88 Earth years
- Length of Day : 24.5 Earth hours
- Diameter : 6,796 kilometers
- Mass (Earth=1) : 0.107
- Surface Gravity (Earth=1) : 0.38
- Escape velocity : 5.0 kilometers/second
- Maximum surface temperature : +20 degrees C.
- Minimum surface temperature : -140 degrees C.
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