13 Interesting Facts About Mars That Will Amaze You

Last Updated on November 19, 2019 by Deepak Ambersariya

Facts about Mars. We know that after earth, Mars is the planet where there are possibilities of life.

And, for the pursuit of life, we made many Rovers and Landers land on Mars, from whom we got a lot of information.

 Here 13 mind-blowing facts about Mars definitely help you know more about Mars.

Mind-blowing Facts About Mars

13 most amazing and scientific facts about Mars planet;

1. Largest Canyon of the Solar System

The deepest and longest canyon of our solar system is situated on Mars Planet whose name is Valles Marineris.

Valles Marineris is 4000 kilometers long, 200 km wide and 10 kilometers deep.

But the earth’s largest valley Grand Canyon is 446 km long, 30 km wide and 1.6 deep.

2. Olympia: Biggest Mountain of the Solar System

The biggest mountain out of all planets is on Mars. The name of that mountain is Olympia. Its height is 21 Km, and it is 600 Km long.

But we know the earth’s highest peak is Mount Everest. It is 8848 meters high.

3. Phobos: Closest Natural Satellite to Their Host of the Solar System

There are two moons of Mars, which are Phobos and Deimos.

Out of the all satellite of our solar system, not even a single satellite is orbiting to their host so close, like Phobos.

The orbit of Phobos is only 6000 kilometers away from the surface of Mars.[Distance between earth and moon is 384,400 km]

The average diameter of this moon is 22.2 kilometers. It completes its one round around the red planet in 7 hours 39 minutes.

4. Deimos: The Smallest Moon of the Solar System

It is the smallest moon in our solar system. The average diameter of it is 12.6 kilometers. It completes its one round around the red planet in 30 hours. Its orbiting time is more than the single day of the red planet. The surface area of it is 483 Km².

It is so small that, It looks like a star from the surface of the red planet; like stars look from the surface of our earth.

Deimos is orbiting from the red planet much far away; it is approximately 20069 Km away from the surface of the mars.

Related; Is there an Atmosphere on Mars Planet?

5. Dry Ocean on the Surface of Mars

It was assumed that when Mars was the geological active there was a big ocean on mars that covered the 17% of the surface of Mars.

Signs of the ocean are given by Viking orbiter which was launched in1976. Its depth has seemed more than 100 meters.

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6. Oxygen on Mars

Currently, atmospheric composition on mars is

Carbon dioxide	95.32%
Nitrogen	2.7%
Argon	1.6%
Oxygen	0.13%
Carbon monoxide	0.08%

However, researches are going on, scientists are working on such types of microbes, by which they can convert CO2 to oxygen. So that humans can live there in the future.

7. Are Seasons Changes Take Place On Mars, Like Earth?

The axis of rotation of the earth tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees away from the vertical. Due to this tilt of the earth, seasons changes take place on earth.

    The axis of rotation of Mars also tilted at an angle of 25 degrees [Nearly Equal to Earth] away from vertical. Due to this tilt of the Mars, seasons changes also take place on Mars, like earth.[Spring, Winter, Fall, summer]

But seasons of mars are longer than the seasons on earth because of the long length of the year.

Related; Evidence of Liquid Water on Mars: The Hope of Life.

8. The Gravity of Mars As Compared To the Earth

We know that the size of Mars is nearly half the size of the earth.

Due to less mass, Mars’s gravity is also less than the gravity of the earth. The gravity of Mars is 3.711 m/s², but the earth is 9.807 m/s².

 If a body weighs on the earth is 100 kg, then its weigh on Mars will be only 38 kg.

9. Second Smallest Planet of the Solar System

The diameter of Mars is 6790 Km.

But the earth’s diameter is 12742 Km.  In this way, we can say that Mars-size is nearly half of the size of the earth.

The surface area of Mars is 114.8 million km² and of earth 510.1 million km².

After Mercury, Mars is the second smallest planet of the solar system.

10. Ice Caps of Mars

which are on the North and South Pole of Mars. It is dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide).

Ice on the South Pole is small than the quantity of ice on the North pole.

The thickness of ice on the North Pole is around 8 meters and on the South Pole is 1 meter.

In summer it’s some portion converts into a gas without converting to water, and the process of converting solid to gas is called sublimation.

11. Massive Dust Storm

There are storms on mars planet that they engulf the whole planet with dust.

During the storm, dust can travel up to the speed of 66 miles per hour.

These storms create difficulties for Lander and Rovers on Mars.

12. Who discovered Mars Planet?

Mars is such a planet that can be seen by the naked eye in dark sky from earth. So there is not any specific person whom we can say that discovered Mars.

But Galileo was the first person who saw the mars planet in a telescope.

Mars Moons Deimos and Phobos were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall on 12 and 18 Aug 1877 respectively.

Also, read; Titan Moon: Life on Saturn Largest Moon and Its Facts.

13. How Long Does It Take To Go To Mars?

The average time to reach Mars from the earth is seven months.

It takes between 6 to 8 months depending upon the position of Mars and earth during launching.

The minimum distance between the earth and Mars is 54.6 million kilometers, and the maximum is 401 million kilometers. The average distance between the earth and mars is 225 million kilometers.

Note; IN every 26 months Mars and earth get their closest distance.

Curiosity Rover took 253 days to reach Mars.

An Indian space agency orbiter “Mars orbiter mission” took 298 days to reach on mars.

Conclusion

Out of the mentioned facts about Mars, which one do you like most?

Moreover, if you know other interesting facts about Mars, let us know in the comment section right below.