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Mars

Mars

Diameter (km)6792
Distance to sun (km)227940000
Equator (km)21297
Temperature–133

<p>Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. </p>In English, Mars conveys the title of the god of war and is often known as the'Red Planet'. The latter describes the effect of the iron oxide prevalent on Mars' surface, which gives it a reddish look distinctive one of the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth. Since the period in addition to the tilt of the axis relative to the ecliptic plane are similar the days and seasons are similar to those of Earth. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain and of Valles Marineris, among the largest canyons in the Solar System. The Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact attribute. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are irregularly shaped and small. These can be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.Mars was explored by unmanned spacecraft. Mariner 4, launched by NASA on November 28, 1964, was the first spacecraft to go to Mars, making its closest approach to the planet on July 15, 1965. Mariner 4 noticed that the weak Martian radiation belt, measured at about 0.1percent that of Earth and captured the first images of another planet from deep space. On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 performed the first successful landing. A soft landing was attained by the Soviet Mars 3 spacecraft in December 1971 but contact was lost with its lander seconds after touchdown. On July 4, 1997, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars and on July 5 released its rover, Sojourner to operate on Mars.



Pathfinder was followed by the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January 2004 and functioned until March 22, 2010 and June 10, 2018, respectively. The Mars Express orbiter, the first European Space Agency spacecraft to visit Mars, arrived on December 25, 2003 in orbit. On September 24, 2014, the Indian Space Research Organization became the fourth largest space agency to see Mars, when its maiden interplanetary mission, the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, arrived in orbit.There are investigations assessing the past habitability of Mars, in addition to the possibility of extant life. Missions are planned, including Rosalind Franklin rovers and the Perseverance. Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low pressure, which is less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure on Earth, except at the lowest elevations for periods that are short. The two polar ice caps seem to be made of water. The quantity of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be enough to pay the planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters (36 ft). In November 2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia area. The quantity of water detected was estimated to be equal to the quantity of water in Lake Superior.Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. Its apparent magnitude reaches −2.94, which is surpassed only by Venus, the Moon and the Sun. Optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 km (190 mi) across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earth's atmosphere.

Source: Wikipedia

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