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Mars at 54 Million Miles from Earth by NASA Hubble from Wikimedia Commons
20 Fun Facts about Mars
Having watched The Martian you may feel you have a case to argue that there are humans on planet Mars. Hold your thoughts because the distance frustrates the dream of many space explorers. Yet the thought of it sparks curiosity, debate, and mind-blowing imagination.
This 2015 science fiction film, The Martian among so many others is evidence that the subject of humanity and Mars is a thriller to the space of film and literature. It leaves you thinking, “have Martians invaded Hollywood?”
The film is adapted from Andy Weir’s novel of the same name. The theme of the film centers on an astronaut struggling to survive on Mars after he is left behind by his colleagues as NASA tries to bring him home (Earth).
For the record, only robotic landers and rovers have been on Mars as of 2022. The furthest humanity has been beyond the Earth is on the Moon. So, before we can live our humanity’s dream of life on Mars, let’s crack the code of what’s on Mars.
Read more on the moon here, 20 of the Coolest Facts about the Moon.
Here are 20 Fun Facts about Mars.
1. Mars isn’t as big as the talk around it
Solar system Painting by NASA from Wikimedia Commons
According to facts, it is one of the most minor planets in the solar system. It follows after mercury in size, making it the second smallest of all planets. It is about 3,389.5 km in radius or 2106 miles. To bring it closer home, you would need 6 Mars to fill up the volume of Earth.
2. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun
This planet is a neighbor to Earth at a distance of 227,936,637 km or about 141 million miles from the sun. The order of all the planets from the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Keep in mind, The International Astronomical Union (IAU) considers Pluto a dwarf planet. Because there are criteria it has not met to be recognized as a full-sized planet.
3. The planet differs from the moon unlike what early space accounts detailed
Earth’s Moon on August 2022 as seen from the Western United States by Corban Stanford from Wikimedia Commons
Reports by early explorers depicted that Mars was like the moon’s environment. This was because images taken by exploration equipment at the time showed spots that seemed to appear as craters, like those on the moon.
Later this view was challenged by the Mariner 9 orbital mission in November 1971. The findings during this attempt proved the area was covered with a lot of dust. Additionally, features popped up on the surface and were interpreted to be dormant volcanoes.
4. Mars has methane a good sign for life survival
Methane is a gas produced by the breakdown or decay of organic material. On Earth, it has countless uses such as being fuel in automobiles, ovens, and water heaters, used as a sanitizer, for the generation of electricity, and more.
Scientists are still figuring out the quantities of Methane on Mars. The rovers and spacecraft to the planet show varying disparities when it comes to the amount of gas available. Also, the equipment has not managed to capture as much detail to build a substantial case study yet.
5. You can call it the “Red Planet”
Mars earned this reference because of its reddish appearance. The color is a result of iron oxide which gives its soil, rock, and dust, a red rusty surface appearance.
6. The tallest mountain of all the eight planets is on Mars
The Olympus Mons image was taken by Viking 1, which orbited and photographed Mars during 1971 and 1972 by NASA/JPL from Wikimedia Commons
First, what’s the consensus, is it eight or nine planets? It depends on how you consider Pluto as earlier pointed out. Earth prides itself on Mount Everest which stands at 8,849 m high while Mars has Olympus Mons.
This mountain is 21000m or 21 km in height and about 600km in diameter. It’s a shield volcano that erupted billions of years ago but scientists have a suspicion it could still be active.
Read more on Pluto here, 15 Facts about Planet Pluto.
7. Mars has longer weather seasons than Earth
Our year on earth takes 365 days because our planet goes around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour. That means a complete revolution of the earth takes one year.
What’s more, the cause of the seasons we experience is a result of the tilting of the earth on its axis. Hence as it zips around the sun, the areas towards the direction of the sun at any given time are in summer and likewise for all seasons.
The replica applies to Mars, only that its orbital speed is slower than Earth’s. The ripple effect is a longer Martian year (687 Earth days). Almost twice as much as an Earth year. Subsequently, the seasons end up being longer but they are named as we know them on Earth.
8. You can see Mars from the Earth
Mars, Earth-size comparison by Earth: NASA/Apollo 17 crew and Mars: ESA/MPS/UPD from
Wikimedia Commons
Note that Earth to Mars is estimated at 35 million miles or 56 million kilometers. But Mars often has a close approach to the earth about every 26 months.
The closest approach is dated August 27, 2003. It brought them at a distance of 34,646,418 miles from center to center of both planets. During such times Mars can be observed from the Earth. According to NASA calculations, the next closest approach is predicted to occur in 2287.
9. Mars is colder than Earth
Mars landscape dry/ wet by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center from Wikimedia Commons
The cold on Mars is thanks to its thin atmosphere and distance from the sun. Mars is about 50 million miles farther away from the sun in orbit. That limits the heat that reaches Mars from the sun.
Moreover, the thin atmosphere of Mars makes it hard to contain the little heat received from the sun. As per the report of Mariner 4 after flying by Mars on July 14, 1965, it recorded an atmospheric pressure of only 1 to 2 percent of the Earth’s. On Earth, we receive more heat from the sun and our atmosphere retains it so it keeps our environment a little bit warmer.
Temperatures on Mars range around -81 degrees F. Though the poles record as low as -220 degrees F in the wintertime and up to a high of +70 degrees F in the hot season.
10. Mars has two moons
Phobos and Deimos are the names of the Mars moons. The astronomer Asaph Hall discovered them and gave them names from the Latin language. Hall was discovered in 1877 and named them during the time.
Discover more about the 27 moons of Uranus here, Top 10 Facts about Uranus.
11. Science’s interest to study Mars was ignited by pieces that fell on earth
Before any space missions began the idea of studying Mars was triggered by meteorites that fell from Mars. The objects landed on Earth and got scientists curious to gain knowledge on Mars. This later birthed space explorations.
12. The name Mars has religious roots
The Romans associated the blood-red color of Mars with their “god of war” hence the name. Further, history narrates that the Greeks who preceded the Romans also referenced Mars as their “god of war”. They called him Ares.
13. Mars is older than Earth
A composite image of the Western hemisphere of the Earth by NASA/ GSFC/ NOAA/ USGS from Wikimedia Commons
Geology nods that Mars is older than Earth. Surprisingly, both formed out of the same material. Experts in planetary science argue that Mars grew to its present size in a few million years. But Earth kept growing bigger for about 100 million years or thereabout.
14. Sandstorms on Mars are fierce
There is much fiction and speculation on what causes the sandstorms on Mars. The scientific view to explain the same is that once the sunlight hits the surface it warms the air near the ground level.
Furthermore, the cold air in the atmosphere is left denser than the warm air below it. This results in instability forcing the warm air below to rise with dust and the result is sandstorms. Sometimes these sandstorms are intense and go on for weeks covering continent-sized areas.
The sandstorms are a challenge for mechanical equipment stationed there because the dust piles on the machinery. On top of that, it blocks the solar panels so no sun rays reach them. Solar panels are the source of energy, so if they are down, the equipment isn’t functional.
Get to know more about Neptune’s strong winds and storms here, Top 10 Facts about Neptune.
15. Mars and Earth have equal landmass
Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization Sample Return (MISR) by John Frassanito and Associates for NASA from Wikimedia Commons
Though Mars is smaller than Earth, its land surface is more or less the same. How come? Simple. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. In contrast, much of Mars is made up of the land surface. Got it?
16. The pull of gravity on Mars is by far less than on Earth
On Mars, the gravity is 38% as strong as the pull of gravity on Earth. Mars is 15% of Earth’s volume and only 11% of Earth’s mass. Gravity is the power that attracts all objects toward each other. For instance, if you jump off a chair, the earth is attracted to you, and you are attracted to it.
17. Valles Marineris canyon on Mars is the largest in the solar system
This gorge translated from Latin to mean the Mariner Valley formed as a result of plate tectonic action. It took place about 3.5 billion years ago. The crack in the Martian crust came about as the planet cooled. The crux of the matter is the effect was enhanced by the rising crust in the Tharsis region to the west. Further, erosional forces that followed in later years widened the canyon.
It spans 2,610 miles or 4,200 kilometers. The depth is roughly 4.4 miles or 7 km deep. For better understanding, it’s the size of an entire continent. On Earth, the Grand Canyon of Yarlung in China’s Tibet region is the largest in the world. Yet it’s only 446 kilometers long, roughly 1.6 kilometers deep, and about 19 kilometers across.
18. The poles of Mars have massive ice deposits
Carbon dioxide ice in the late summer of Mars’s South Pole by NASA/JPL/University of Arizona from
Wikimedia Commons
Water is a good sign of the survival of life anywhere. In the case of Mars, the water is frozen and there is little to no existence of liquid water. This is because the thin atmosphere of Mars can only support vapors and not rain like the case on Earth.
19. Mars is expected to have a ring in future
The scientific explanation for this is a bit complex, so this is the simple version. In about 70 million years, Mars will have rings like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Phobos, one of the Mars moons(earlier discussed) will break apart and become a set of rings.
20. The first Mars probe was in 1960
Soviet scientists led the mission called the Marsnik 1 or Korabl 4. They had no specific intentions with the program it was only a Mars probe.
There have been many missions to the red planet by several nations. Such as Marsnik 1 by the Soviet Union, China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter and lander rover, and the United Arab Emirates Hope orbiter. The U.S.A. is credited with many of the Mars expeditions. About 50 missions have been conducted to Mars as of 2022 but over half have failed.
Some of the most successful attempts began with NASA’s Mariner 4. It was the first flyby of Mars on July 14-15, 1965. The project triumphed and managed to take the first photos of another planet from space.
Later explorations have given more detail on Mars and the most recent is NASA’s Perseverance rover. It landed on 18 February 2021. The aim is to search for past life on Mars as well as collect soil and rock samples for future return to Earth.
A complete solar system talks of the sun somewhere in between so, read more about the sun here, Top 15 Facts about the Sun.
What more do you know about Mars? Keep the facts as well as the fiction coming.
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