FACTS:

Satellites: 2 moons


  • Considering the relative birghtness of Mars in the night sky, it is not known who was the first to discover Mars.

  • Mars is sometimes referred to as the "Red Planet" due in part to its reddish glow it gives off when viewed from Earth. It gets its reddish hue from all of the iron oxide present on its surface.

  • Mars has been the object of many space missions; the first of which took place in 1965 with the Mariner 4 fly-by. The Mariner 4 took the first detailed pictures of the Martian surface. Subsequently, many other missions were sent to Mars including several "Rover" missions.
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MARS

INFORMATION:

  • MASS: ≈ 6.4219×1023 kg    (1/10 the mass of Earth!)
  • DIAMETER: ≈ 4,196 miles
  • TEMPERATURE: ≈ -51° F (surface)
Earth