Mars is a fascinating planet in our solar system.
Over the years, space organizations have done a great deal of work to further explore Mars, including projects to get crews to the red planet.
Mars and Earth do share many similarities with one another, including the length of a day on each of the planets, as well as the small number of moons of each planet.
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Here are 10 fun facts about Mars.
- Mars has seasons
- Mars is home to the Olympus Mons volcano
- Mars is the fourth planet from the sun
- Mars is small compared to Earth
- Mars has two moons
- Mars has cold temperatures and a thin atmosphere
- Rovers, landers and helicopters have been used to explore the planet
- Mars is also known as "the red planet"
- The length of a year on Mars is longer than a year on Earth
- Mars has been the main character in many films
1. Mars has seasons
Similar to Earth, Mars also experiences seasons.
The seasons on Mars are a bit different from on Earth, as they are about twice as long, according to NASA.gov.
Mars has the same four seasons as Earth; winter, spring, summer and autumn.
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2. Mars is home to the Olympus Mons volcano
Olympus Mons is an absolutely enormous volcano on Mars.
It is not only the largest volcano on the planet, it's also the largest in the entire solar system, according to Space.com.
It is a whopping 16 miles high and spans 374 miles, per the source.
3. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the four planets closest to the sun.
About 142 million miles separate Mars from the sun, according to NASA.gov.
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Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun and is about 2.8 billion miles away from the sun, per the source.
4. Mars is small compared to Earth
Compared to Earth, Mars is pretty small.
Mars is about half the size of Earth. It has a radius of 2,106 miles, according to NASA.gov.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth and Venus are all bigger than Mars, while Mercury is smaller.
5. Mars has two moons
Phobos and Deimos are the two moons of Mars. Phobos is the larger of the two, according to NASA.gov.
The small number of moons is another similarity between Earth and Mars.
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The other planets in the solar system have many more, except for Venus — which has no moons.
6. Mars has cold temperatures and a thin atmosphere
Mars experiences very cold temperatures and has a very thin atmosphere.
It is mostly made up of carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen, according to NASA.gov.
Mars' temperatures are another factor that make it uninhabitable.
On average, the planet sees temperatures right around minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit, NASA.gov reports.
7. Rovers, landers and helicopters have been used to explore the planet
Countries around the world have made great efforts to explore Mars.
NASA has two rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, that are currently being used to explore the planet.
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Over the years, there have been others, including Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity.
Spirit and Opportunity were twin rovers that landed just a few weeks apart from one another in 2004, according to NASA.gov.
NASA also had a lander called InSight that was used to explore the planet until December 2022, according to NASA.gov, and a helicopter called Ingenuity. Ingenuity's mission ended in January 2024.
Exploration has found that Mars had a warmer, wetter, thicker atmosphere billions of years ago.
More research has continued to be done to explore that idea further and look toward the potential future of the planet.
Elon Musk's company SpaceX has also been working on spacecraft and rockets that can get crews and equipment to Mars.
8. Mars is also known as the red planet
Mars is often referred to as the red planet.
Mars' nickname comes from the color it appears to be.
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The soil on Mars is full of iron minerals, which oxidize, or rust, according to NASA.gov, making the surface of the soil look red.
9. The length of a year on Mars is longer than a year on Earth
Mars experiences a longer year than Earth does.
A year on Mars is 669.6 sols, per NASA.gov, which is equivalent to 687 days on Earth. Each day on Mars is just slightly longer than a day on Earth.
The average day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours, very similar to that of Earth.
10. Mars has been the main character in many films
While humans have not walked on Mars in real life, they have in pop culture. There have been many popular movies based on life on Mars.
One of the most popular is "The Martian," a 2015 movie based on the book by Andy Weir. Matt Damon plays astronaut Mark Watney in the movie, who gets stranded on the planet.
A few other movies featuring Mars are "Total Recall," "Mission to Mars," "Life," "The Space Between Us" and "Ad Astra."
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