The Red-Planet has always been the point of debate for humans, Blame the alien conspiracy surrounding it or those awesome Hollywood space movies. Do you really think that you know everything about Mars? Well in this article we have collected some Interesting and Fun Facts about Mars that you might not even have heard of.
- On Mars, sunsets are blue.
- Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system.
- Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system.
- Mars is red because it is covered in rust (iron oxide).
- On its one-year anniversary, the NASA’s Curiosity Rover sang the “Happy Birthday” tune to itself on Mars.
- On Mars, the Sun appears about half the size as it does on Earth.
- Mars takes its name from the Roman god of war.
- Your weight in Mars is over 60% less than on Earth.
- Mars is about half the size of the Earth.
- The month of March is named after Mars.
- No human could survive the low pressure of Mars. If you went to Mars without an appropriate space suit, the oxygen in your blood would literally turn into bubbles, causing immediate death.
- If you were driving 60 mph in a car, it would take 271 years and 221 days to get to Mars from Earth.
- Mars has an enormous canyon named Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley) which is 2,500 miles long and four miles deep.
- In 1997, three men from Yemen tried to sue NASA for invading Mars, claiming they had inherited it from their ancestors 3,000 years ago.
- The soil on Mars is particularly good for growing asparagus.
- Mars was formed about 4.5 billion years ago and is about 4,000 miles wide.
- During a Mars winter, almost 20% of the air freezes
- The average temperature on Mars is –81° and can range from –205° in the winter to 72° Fahrenheit in the summer.
- Galileo Galilee was the first person to observe Mars through a telescope, in 1609.
- Scientists want to introduce global warming on Mars to make life habitable for colonization.
- Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere around 4 billion years ago.
- Mars has very weak gravity which cannot hold onto the atmosphere well.
- Mars moons Phobos and Deimos were named after the twin brothers of fear and terror in Greek mythology.
- Mars is more similar to Earth than any other planet in the solar system.
- Mars has a flag. It was designed by a NASA engineer.
- There are 5 planets you can see with the naked eye, not using a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
- Mars’ atmosphere is made up of 95% carbon dioxide.
- According to NASA, it would cost about US$18,000 to send a letter to Mars.
- Mars is the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury.
- Mars has four seasons like Earth does.
- The first colored pictures of Mars were taken in 1976.
- Mars is the most studied planet.
- 4 billion years ago, Mars had an ocean covering 19% of the planet’s surface.
- The German Aerospace Center discovered that Earth lichens can survive in simulated Mars conditions.
- In 1840, areographer Johann Heinrich Madler combined ten years of observations and drew the first map of Mars.
