Mars regained the world’s attention this fall, with recent news of the discovery of liquid water on the planet and a new blockbuster film set on Earth’s nearest neighbor, The Martian. This is a timely moment to focus on Red Planet Day, November 28.
Celebrate the fourth planet from our solar system’s sun with our series of blogs discussing general information about Mars, some of the more than 40 space missions humans have launched to study the planet, a section on the future of Mars and plans for manned missions to the planet, and concluding with links to fiction and non-fiction on Mars.
From Mars Hill near Flagstaff, the location of the main facility of Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered, to the Lunar Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona in Tucson and Kitt Peak, which houses a massive collection of diverse astronomical instruments, our state has a long storied history in astronomy and with the Red Planet. UA’s LPL has been involved with the Mars Odyssey Orbiter, Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Observer, Viking, HiRISE and Mars Reconnaissance Observer, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Express, Mars Pathfinder, Beagle 2, Mars Exploration Rovers, and MAVEN missions to our crimson neighbor among many other lunar, planetary, and solar missions to study our solar system and the galaxies beyond.
In this pioneering, exploratory spirit, La Paloma Academy, your Tucson charter school, has paired with the other campuses in our district to put together a retrospective on 50 years of successful exploration on Mars for you to enjoy with your child and commemorate Red Planet Day. You can also enjoy the word search created especially for this topic.
Mars: The Red Planet
Photo from http://www.natgeotv.com.au/
The fourth planet from the sun has been known to mankind since ancient times. It was named after Mars, the Roman god of War—the Greeks called it Ares, their name for the same deity. Its reddish hue comes from iron oxide, which is common on the surface of the planet. With a thin atmosphere, mostly made up of carbon dioxide, the average temperature on Mars is a chilly -81⁰F (-63⁰C)—don’t forget your mittens.
Small Planet
Mars is about half the size of Earth, and only has 38% of our planet’s gravity. While the Martian year is 687 Earth days long, not quite the length of ours, its day (called a sol) is 24.617 Earth hours—only 37 minutes and 22 seconds longer than our own. It has no rings, but two moons Phobos and Deimos (named after the fabled children of the mythical Mars). Unlike Earth’s moon it is theorized that Mars’ moons are actually captured asteroids. Phobos, the largest and closest of the two, completes its orbit around the planet, at least twice a day, in 7 hours and 39 minutes. It is also slowly falling toward the planet and scientists calculate that in about 50 million years the moon will either collide with Mars or break up and become a planetary ring.
Large Landmarks
This small terrestrial planet has both the largest canyon system and the largest volcano in our solar system. Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley) spans about 20% of the surface of Mars; the canyon measures 2,500 miles long and delves up to four miles deep. It looks like a massive scar near the planet’s equator.
Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, much like the ones which created the Hawaiian Islands. Standing 13 miles above the surface of the planet, it covers more than 300,000 km2 (about the same area as the state of Arizona). This volcano is so massive that it is among the few features on the planet that are visible above the frequent dust storms.
Familiar Sights
That’s right! Much like our desert home state of Arizona, Mars has dust devils, which have been captured in photos by rovers and studied by orbiters. On Mars, the dust storms can get so massive that they have been known to cover the entire planet, like in 2001, as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists have discovered that many of these events form in the Hellas Basin, which is one of the lowest points on the surface of the planet.
Quick Facts
- Mars is the fourth planet in our solar system.
- It is 1.52 AU or about 142 million miles (228 million km) from the sun.
- Mars is a small rugged planet with a solid surface shaped by volcanoes (like Olympus Mons), impact craters, crust movement, dust storms, and other atmospheric effects.
- The red color comes from oxidized iron minerals in Martian soil. It turns out the color is only “skin” deep.
- Carbon dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen (N2), and Argon (Ar) make up the majority of the planet’s atmosphere.
- Mars has double moons—Phobos & Deimos.
- Since 1960 there have been 44 missions to Mars attempted. After seven failed missions by Russia and the United States, Mariner 4’s flyby in 1965 was the first successful mission to the Red Planet. It sent back 22 photos of Mars. Red Planet Day commemorates Mariner 4’s launch date: November 28, 1965.
- Several countries have sent spacecraft to Mars: USSR/Russia, the United States, the European Space Agency, Japan, China, and India.
