Mars is the fourth planet of the solar system and the second nearest planet to the earth. The orbital period of Mars is equal to 687 Earth days and a rotational period equal to 24hrs 37mins and 22.6 seconds.
MARS IS commonly known as red planet due to its reddish appearance from the earth. The planet is named as Mars after the the Roman God of War. The diameter of Mars is 4220 miles and has a mass which is one-tenth the mass of Earth. This planet also has seasons like the Earth. The minimum temperature on Mars is 140 Kelvin (-133 degrees Celsius) and the maximum temperature is 273 Kelvin (0 degrees Celsius). The average surface temperature on Mars is about 210 Kelvin (-63 degrees Celsius).
It is believed that earlier Mars was much more like Earth because once water existed on the surface of Mars. The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, provided evidence that at some time in the past there were rivers, large lakes or even oceans on Mars. But now, it is not a pleasant place to live as the pressure is very low (hundred times lower than on Earth), the atmosphere is mainly composed of carbondioxide and the oxygen is present in traces. The air contains only 0.03% of water vapour (which is about 0.001 that of Earth). It has permanent ice caps at both the ends which mostly consists of carbondioxide, so it is called dry ice.
Some other facts about Mars are: it is the seventh largest planet in the solar system. It got its red colour because of the iron present in the soil, which has made it to appear red, just like rusty iron. It has the tallest volcano named Olympus Mons which is fifteen miles high (three times higher than Mount Everest). A day on Mars is half hour longer than that of earth. A man who weighs 100 pounds on Earth will weigh only 38 pounds on Mars because of the lower gravitational force.
Now that the NASA-launched Curiosity rover has landed successfully on Mars, a Dutch company Mars One, is planning a TV reality show on Mars. The company will select several teams of four astronauts each. The organizers are saying that the show will be planned using already existing technology, but the preference will be given to quality rather than politics or nation.
Bas Lansdorp, one of the minds behind the project, says that “We discussed the cost figures of the components with our potential suppliers. We included margins, setbacks and failures in the financial plan to make it as realistic as possible,” reported the website gizmag.
