Mars

Mars Facts about Mars Mars' Past Surface Features Other Features Interior Structure History of Exploration Moons -Texture Phobos The Red Planet Basic Information -Gravitational field strength: 12.2 Ft/s Other Important Facts Crust -about 10-50 kilometers thick
-compose of iron-rich basaltic rock
-thin compared to Earth's crust Mantle -about 2000 kilometers thick
-made out of Silicate rock 2 -Orbital Period: 1.8809 Earth Years -Rotational Period: 24hrs, 39 minutes, 35 seconds -Oblateness: 0.00648 Important Facts -Average Distance from the Sun: 1.506 AU -Oribital Eccentricity: 0.0935 -Mass: 6.4169x10 kg -Radius: 3,397km Core -About 1500km thick -Made out of Iron -Does not rotate like Earth's
-Does not produce Magnetism -Dry, barren wasteland with volcanoes and impact craters -Canyons -Mountains -Craters -Once might have had plate techtonics to close once active volcanoes -Volcanoes -formed by meteors Deimos -both tidally locked -both revolve the same direction mars rotates -20 km X 23 km X 28 km -small, rocky with low densities -capture asteroids -Appears half as large as Earth's moon -12 km in diameter -farther away from Mars -1/15 of the diameter of the Earth's moon -Contains parallel grooves -Has a layer of dust making it look smooth -Looks smoother than Phobos because it has more dust -Weak gravities 1965 Mariner 4 -USA Mars Flyby -Took first close up pictures of Mars -Found slight magnetic field and thin atmosphere July 14, 1965 1969 1971 1973 1975 2011 2000's Mariner 6-7 -USA Mars Flyby -Took measurements of the surface, atmospheric temperature, surface molecular composition, and pressure of the atmosphere February 24 and March 27 1969 Mariner 9 -USA Mars Orbiter -First US spacecraft to enter orbit around a planet other than Earth May 30, 1971 Mars 3 -USSR Mars Orbiter/Soft Lander -First successful landing on Mars May 28, 1971 -Took measurements of surface temperature and atmospheric composition -Took first high resolution pictures of Mars' moons -Fourth planet from the sun Mars Science Laboratory -Contained rover name Curiosity -Landed in Gale Crater November 2011 -Objective was to find out if Mars could support small life. 2001 Mars Odyssey -USA Mars Orbiter and Lander/Rover -Served as communications relay for future Mars missions April 7, 2001 Spirit and Opportunity -Spirit is no longer active while Opportunity continues on June 2003 Phoenix Mars Lander -First in NASA's Scout Program -Designed to study the history of water and the habitability potential on Mars August 2007 -Has found traces of ice -Set record for the longest serving spacecraft on the Mars - -Goal was to collect samples -USA Mars Rover 23 -Diameter: 6,800km (53% of Earth's) -Contains largest volcano in the Solar System (Olympus Mons) -Surface Temperature: -125 F to 23 F o o Mars 4 -USSR Mars Orbiter -Failed to go into orbit because of malfunction -Arrived in February 1974 -Missed going into orbit by 2,200 km. Sent pictures back Viking 1-2 -USA Mars Orbiter/Lander July 21, 1973 -Looked for Martian Micro-organisms August-September 1795 -Took pictures and studied terrain and mapped the surface -Took over 52,000 pictures -Viking 1 was accidentally shut down Water on Mars -May have ice under the surface -A giant ocean may have once existed covering 1/3 of Mars -Ocean's depth would have been 1,700m deep -No longer existent because of lack of atmosphere and temperature Atmosphere -Once created greenhouse like climate known as the greenhouse effect -kept temperature about 0 degrees Celcius -Would have kept water as liquid -Carbon Dioxide from Volcanoes filled the atmosphere. -Carbon Dioxide was used up by the water Life -Thought to contain forms of micro-organsims -now has no plate tectonics and no volcanoes are active -the biggest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons which is on Mars -formed from faults in the crust during Mars' creation -much like the Moon's craters -Vallese Marineris is the biggest canyon on Mars -Viking programs were sent to find life on Mars along with the Mars Global Surveyor and a few others -Life may have existed when Mars had a stronger atmosphere -Composition -much like Earth's as in it consists of silicates, metals, and other elements that are usually found in rock. -Atmosphere -Density: about 3.9335 g/cm squared -lost much of original atmosphere -96% Carbon Dioxide, 2% Argon, 1.9% Nitrogen, 0.14% Oxygen, 0.06% Carbon Oxide -Named after Roman God of War -Formed by old volcanoes -Olympus Mons is now one of many old volcanoes that look like mountains