Live like the first human on Mars!		Return to Mars on Earth Experience Homepage About Mars (updated 3/6/21)
MARS	Mars Facts PARAMETER		EARTH
Two (depicted much larger than scale) – Deimos (25 km dia.) and Phobos (12 km dia.) – discovered 1877 by Asaph Hall; named after Greek mythological twins Phobos (panic/fear) and Deimos (terror/dread)	Moons		One moon, AKA “Luna” (depicted to scale)
.376 G (38% of Earth, twice that of the Moon) 200 lbs on Earth feels like 75.66 lbs on Mars	Gravity		1 G
24 Earth hours 37 Earth minutes (AKA a “Sol”)	Rotation		24 hours (AKA a “Day”)
687 Earth days	Revolution (around the Sun)		365 days (AKA a “Year”)
53% of Earth (4220 miles/6792 km)/ 21,344 miles/13,263 km	Diameter/ Circumference (Depicted above proportionally with Moon)		78925 miles/12,756 km/ 24,901 miles/40,075 km
95.32% Carbon Dioxide (poisonous to humans), 2.7% Nitrogen, .08% carbon monoxide (deadly poisonous), 0.14% Oxygen	Atmosphere		20.9% Oxygen, 79% Nitrogen, .1% other
Space probes suggest even oceans, but most dissipated over the eons – still a great deal locked in ice and in the ground	Water		71% covered with salt water oceans (about 324M cu miles); 3.5% of all water is fresh-water in ice caps at North and South poles and lakes and rivers
Weak if not nil – primary reason the atmosphere had disappeared into space – cannot navigate with a compass; Magnetic bands evidence of plate tectonics on Mars four billion years ago, before the planetary dynamo ceased to function and the planet’s magnetic field faded away.	Magnetic Field		Very strong filed from motion of liquid outer core – primary reason we and our atmosphere are protected from solar radiation and why we can navigate with a compass
Spring 7 Earth mos, Summer 6 mos, Fall 5.3 mos, Winter 4 mos	Seasons		Spring 3 mos, Summer 3 mos, Fall 3 mos, Winter 3 mos
-81.4°F/- 63°C (ave.); active dust storms; no precipitation	Climate		61°F/16°C (ave. and rising); active storms, tornadoes, hurricanes; precipitation in many forms
Solid core mainly of iron and sulfur, wrapped in a mantle of silicates, cocooned by a crust of basalt, hematite, plagioclase feldspar and other minerals, covered by fine grain iron-oxide dusts giving the characteristic reddish hue.	Geology		Solid inner core (mostly iron) and liquid outer core (responsible for strong magnetic filed) wrapped by a mantle under a crust of rocks mostly of oxygen (46.6%); silicon (27.7%), aluminum (8.1%); iron (5), calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium (11.1%)
About 20 named volcanoes (5 giant shields) with evidence of volcanism in 3 regions; main cluster in Tharsis (volcanic plateau near the equator) home to 3 largest volcanoes in the Solar System - Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons; CO2-ice caps at North and South poles	Topography		71% covered by oceans; crust from 35,100 ft below MSL (Challenger Deep) to 29,035 ft above MSL (Mt. Everest); 500 active volcanoes; 7 major continents; almost uncountable islands and rivers
None that we know of – yet!	Life		Five mass-extinctions, heading for a sixth
Discovery and Exploration Early Observations The existence of Mars as a wandering object in the night sky was recorded by the ancient Egyptian astronomers and by 1534 BCE, they were familiar with the retrograde motion of the planet. In Mesopotamian texts, Mars is referred to as the "star of judgement of the fate of the dead". The ancient Sumerians believed that Mars was Nergal, the god of war and plague. By the period of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the Babylonian astronomers were making regular records of the positions of the planets and systematic observations of their behavior. For Mars, they knew that the planet made 37 synodic periods, or 42 circuits of the zodiac, every 79 years. They invented arithmetic methods for making minor corrections to the predicted positions of the planets. In Ancient Greek, the planet was known as Πυρόεις (Pie-roy-you). In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle noted that Mars disappeared behind the Moon during an occultation, indicating that the planet was farther away than the Moon. Ptolemy, a Greek living in Alexandria, attempted to address the problem of the orbital motion of Mars. Literature from ancient China confirms that Mars was known by Chinese astronomers by no later than the fourth century BCE. In the fifth century CE, the Indian astronomical text Surya Siddhanta estimated the diameter of Mars. In the East Asian cultures, Mars is traditionally referred to as the "fire star" (Chinese: 火星), based on the Five elements jin (metal), mu (wood), shui (water), huo (fire), and tu (earth). In 1576, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) made surprisingly accurate calculations of the position of Mars 20 years before the telescope was invented. Using keen eyesight and large instruments, he calculated the position of Mars to within four minutes of arc. Brahe measured the diurnal parallax of Mars that Johannes Kepler used to make a preliminary calculation of the relative distance to the planet. In 1590, the only occultation of Mars by Venus was observed by Michael Maestlin in Heidelberg, Germany. In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was first to record observing Mars through a telescope. In 1672, Giovanni Domenico Cassini measured the diurnal parallax of Mars to determine the Sun-Earth distance. In 1659, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens was first to draw a map of Mars that displayed any terrain features. In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli used a 8.7 in telescope in Milan to produce the first detailed map of Mars that included features he called “canali” (channels or grooves), long, straight lines on the surface of Mars to which he gave names of famous rivers on Earth. The term “canali was mistranslated in English to mean "canals" and prompted a misconception of technological life digging water-filled canals. In 1894, American Percival Lowell founded the now known as the Lowell Observatory in Arizona hosting 12 and 18 in telescopes. (Clyde Tombaugh, in 1930, was to discover the 9^th planet Pluto through the 13 in telescope at the Lowell Observatory.) Lowell published three popular books on Mars and prospective life on the planet, promoting the notion of “canals” which also had been independently observed by French astronomers Henri Joseph Perrotin and Louis Thollon. During this period, speculation arose about seasonal changes from observing shrinking polar caps and formation of dark areas formed during Martian summer being evidence of vast seas, vegetation, and even advanced life on Mars, In 1909, French astronomer Camille Flammarion, using an advanced 33 in telescope, observed irregular patterns and dismissed the loing-held belief in “canali”.
Probes, Orbiters, and Landers There have been 28 failures out of 47 attempts to explore Mars. By comparison, there have been 40 missions sent to Venus with 18 failures; 50 missions to the Moon have failed, including Apollo 13. 1960 – Soviet Mars 1 M exploded over Siberia during the third stage after liftoff; Mars 1M No. 2, crashed after liftoff from a liquid oxygen leak that froze the second stage fuel supply. 1962 – Sputnik 22 (Mars attempt) reached Earth orbit, but burned up when its third stage exploded; Sputnik 24 also reached orbit but failed due to a fuel line problems; Sputnik 23 (launched in 1962) made it to Mars in 1963, but months after communication with the craft was lost. 1962 – Soviet series of probes to Mars including the first intended flybys and hard (impact) landing. 1964 – Soviet Zond 2 reached Mars orbit but communication was lost; NASA Mariner 3 failed to deploy its solar panels and its battery died. 1965 – NASA's Mariner 4, first successful fly-by of Mars on 14–15 July 1965; NASA Mariner 4 succeeded in a flyby giving first evidence that Mars was not a wet, warm mini-Earth but a cold and desolate desert. 1969 – NASA Mariners 6 and 7 fly-by Mars sending back valuable pictures and scientific measurements; Soviet Mars 1969A exploded during third stage burn, throwing debris over the Altai Mountains in central Asia; Mars 1969B reached only 330 feet off the launch pad before turning around and crashing near Baikonur. 1971–1974 – Mariner 8 failed to achieve Earth orbit and crashed in the Atlantic in 1971; Mariner 9 , Nov14, 1971, first NASA space probe to successfully orbit another planet; Soviet Mars 2 lander failed during descent (landing system consisted of a spherical landing capsule, conical aerodynamic braking shield, a parachute system and retro-rockets), Nov 27; Soviet Mars 3 Lander, Dec 2, first soft landing (same system as Mars 2), but failed within a minute after landing; Soviet Kosmos 419 burned up in low earth orbit in attempt to proceed to Mars; Soviet Mars 4 and 5 ()orbiter only) also failed; Soviet Mars 6 failed during descent but returned corrupted atmospheric data. 1973 – Soviet Mars 7 (lander) failed when it missed the planet; Soviet space agency stopped attempts to go to Mars until 1988. 1976 – NASA Viking program of two orbiters, each with parachute and powered descent lander (non-rover) that successfully soft landed; Viking 1 remained operational for 6+ years; Viking 2 operational for 3 years; Viking landers relayed first color panoramas of Mars. 1988 – Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 with focus on Mars moon Phobos. Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars. Phobos 2, carrying a mobile hopper and a stationary platform, successfully photographed Mars and its moon Phobos, but failed before it was set to release two landers to the surface of Phobos. 1992 – Mars Observer (AKA Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter) arrived at Mars but ruptured fuel tank caused a sever spin and communication was lost three days prior to Mars orbit insertion. 1994 -- NASA 1996 – Russian Mars 96 carrying an orbiter, a lander, and several penetrators failed to enter Mars crusie trajectory, re-entered Earth orbit, and broke up spreading plutonium-238 from its fuel source somewhere over the western Pacific coast. The Russians have never admitted where (it took the Soviets two years to admit that depressuirizaitaon during reentry was the cause of death of the cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, in 1971 after returning from a failed attempt to enter the space station). 1997 – NASA Mars Global Surveyor achieved Mars orbit, successful mapping mission completed in 2001; contact finally lost after 10 years in space. NASA Mars Pathfinder (renamed Carl Sagan Memorial Station) with robotic exploration vehicle Sojourner, the first to operate outside of Earth-Moon system, landed in the Ares Vallis on Mars, using a supersonic parachute, followed by solid rockets and large airbags to cushion the impact. Highly successful data gathering 1998 – Japan’s Mars orbiter Nozomi ( のぞみ meaning "Wish" or "Hope”) launched, reached Mars in 2003, but failed to achieve orbit due to electrical malfunction likely caused by a solar flare in 2002. 1999 – Mars Climate Orbiter, software error caused incorrect measuring units to be used bringing the orbiter too low to the atmosphere and spacecraft burned up 1999 – Mars Polar Lander carrying two impact probes Deep Space 2A and 2B failed during a completely powered descent (no parachute) when the lander’s legs deployed erroneously singnalling the spacecraft had touched down causing the descent engines to prematurely shut down – blame on controversial “cheaper, faster, better” mindset at NASA sacrificing speed for quality. 2001 – NASA Mars Odyssey launched; currently (2019) in polar orbit with fuel to last 2024; longest operational orbiter in history. 2003 – British Beagle 2 (named after Charles Darwin’s ship “HMS Beagle”) Mars Lander transported to Mars by European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter with intent to land on Mars on Christmas 2003 (using a parachute and airbag system); subsequent imagery in 2015 indicates landing was successfful two of its four two solar panels failed to deploy cutting communication – however, the Mars Express orbiter was a success. 2004 – NASA Mars Landers Spirit and Opportunity launched in 2003 and landed on Mars in 2004 and remained active until 2018. Spirit used a parachute (40% larger than Pathfinder’s), rocket assisted descent, and air bags. 2006 – Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005 and achieved Mars orbit in 2006; located the lost Beagle 2 probe in 2015. 2007 – Rosetta came within 155 miles of Mars during its flyby for an acceleration assist enroute to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and ultimately landed on the comet. 2008 – NASA Phoenix landed on north polar region, May 25; robotic arm dug into Martian soil discovering water ice confirmed on June 20; mission concluded Nov 10, 2008, after contact lost; price of transporting material from the surface of Earth to surface of Mars was approximately $1.4M per pound; first mission to Mars led by a public university in NASA history. 2011 – Fobos-Grunt with China’s Yinghuo-1, never left Earth orbit; remains China's only attempt to reach Mars. 2012 – NASA Curiosity rover (launched 2011) landed on Mars using a parachute, rocket assisted descent and sky crane (2019); Curiosity remains active. 2013 – Indian Space Research Organisation sent Mangalyaan craft in Nov and entered orbit 10 months later; second mission planned for 2024; NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) launched 2013, entered Mars orbit Sep 2014 and remains operational (2019). 2016 – Joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Russian space agency Roscosmos launch Schiaparelli lander EDM (Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module) built in Italy intended to test technology for future soft landings on the surface of Mars;) system used was a parachute, rocket assisted descent to the surface with integrated crushable “crumple bumper” on the bottom of the craft; communication was lost about one minute from the surface during the final landing stages; wreckage found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2016; ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) also launched as an integral unit to the EDM and is currently in operational orbit (2019).
2021 – NASA Mars Rover Perseverance, totally autonomous landing via parachute and powered descent, February 18, 2021, at 2055 hrs UTC; mission – to answer question about the potential for life on Mars by searching for signs of past microbial life; will collect core samples and potentially returning them to Earth via future vehicle still in design; demonstrate technologies to address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars to include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying subsurface water, improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.				Krispy Kreme produced a special donut for the occasion offered only on Feb 18, 2021 , day of the landing – I added the captions “Mars Perseverance lands safely on Mars with moons Deimos and Phobos in opposition - first launch of Ingenuity shows polar caps made of ice(ing) - preliminary drillings show a soft core of sweet lava, analysis indicates a chocolate-like flavor.
The Future 2022 – The ExoMars Kazachok ("Little Cossack", formerly ExoMars 2020 Surface Platform) planned robotic Mars lander led by Roscosmos and part of the ExoMars 2022 joint mission with European Space Agency; plan for Russian Proton-M rocket to to deliver the Russian-built lander Rosalind Franklin rover to the surface of Mars; originally scheduled for 2020 for Mars landing in but postponed to 2022 due to the failure of the entry parachutes to pass testing. SpaceEx and Tesla Ceo Elon Musk plans to send its first cargo mission to Mars; objectives to confirm water resources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure for a second mission with cargo and crew in 2024; second mission objective to build a propellant depot and prepare for future crew flights and serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base from which to build a thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. “It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” (Elon Musk, 2019). Musk conjectures the use of plasma, ion, and nuclear technology engines to reduce the transit time from the minimum 9 months (Hohman Transfer Orbit – the lowest possible amount of energy to travel between two bodies in orbit around the Sun) for close conjunction between Earth and Mars to as little as 30 days.
References https://www.universetoday.com/14859/gravity-on-mars/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars http://planetary-science.org/mars-research/surface-geology-of-mars/ https://www.universetoday.com/14702/what-is-mars-made-of/ http://planetfacts.org/what-is-earth-made-of/ https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/10-deepest-parts-of-the-ocean/ https://www.universetoday.com/29662/active-volcano/ https://www.universetoday.com/65588/what-percent-of-earth-is-water/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Comet_rendezvous https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a17407/mars-mission-failures/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars https://www.spacex.com/mars https://www.space.com/37200-read-elon-musk-spacex-mars-colony-plan.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohmann_transfer_orbit https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1996-064A