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 Facts
Closest Point:
(1.38 AU)
Farthest Point:
(1.67 AU)
Average Distance:
207 million km
249 million km
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
-"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.
-Mars’ orbital tilt is 25.19° which is pretty close to the Earth’s
tilt of 23.44°.
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#.VCBemfv4KZQ
http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/artwork/hires/fairing.jpg
http://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/mars-size.png
http://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/msl/curiosity-20140805/#.VCGiWZRdX84
http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one
http://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=Sats
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140124093710.htm
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/mars/moons.html
http://www.seasky.org/solar-system/mars-deimos.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy_on_Mars
http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/24/73524-004-AC9E8BEF.jpg
http://cdn4.sci-news.com/images/enlarge/image_1553e-Early-Mars.jpg