• Key Information

  • Mars

  • Type
    Planet
  • Diameter
    4,212 miles
  • Distance from Sun
    141,634,955 miles
  • Orbit Time
    686.980 Earth days
  • Length of Day
    24 hours 39 minutes
  • Temperature
    −226 °F (night) to 95 °F (day)
  • Atmosphere
    Thinner than Earth's and made from carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen and other elements
  • Date of Discovery
    Unknown
  • Moons
    2
  • Learning Point
  • Mars has long been viewed as a place that could be reached and lived on more easily than other planets. There are many plans to try and send a human to Mars and possibly establish a base on it.
  • Project
  • What missions have been sent to Mars so far? What were they looking to do? What were the challenges of the missions?
  • Media
  • Location
  • Located in
    Solar System, orbiting the Sun
  • Fun Facts
  • Mars is about half the diameter of Earth, but six Mars could fit inside Earth.
  • Mars has an atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide, but is 100 times less dense or thick than Earth.
  • Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are small asteroid like objects. Phobos is likely to crash into Mars or form rings around it in the future.
  • Mariner 4 passed Mars in 1965, and Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars in 1971.
  • Up until 2019, only 25 out of the 55 missions to Mars had been successful.