Mars

Welcome to the Mars Wiki.

[[image:http://www.aerospaceguide.net/solar_system/solar_system.jpg width="680" height="442"]] Solar System
==//**Welcome to the Mars Wiki Page this page will have information which includes Pictures, Histiory, Links, And Youtube videos. The team of Sam Hoyt and Kyle Moore are ready to present the information of the one and only Mars.**//==

Mars is the fourth Planet from the sun and is commonly reffered to as the red planet due to its red soil. Mars is about 4,225 miles in diameter. The atmopshpere of mars is orange with a pink hue. This makes mars look red even though its surface is orange.

The atmosphere of Mars is quite different from that of Earth. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide with small amounts of other gases. The six most common components of the atmosphere are:

 * Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 95.32%
 * Nitrogen (N2): 2.7%
 * Argon (Ar): 1.6%
 * Oxygen (O2): 0.13%
 * Water (H2O): 0.03%
 * Neon (Ne): 0.00025 %



Mars is 4220 miles (6791 km) in diameter (Earth - 7926 miles). It has one-tenth the mass of Earth, being less dense, however, its surface area is only slightly less than the total area of Earth's dry land. Gravity is 0.38 that of Earth, which means that if you weigh 100 pounds or kg on Earth, you would weigh 38 pounds or kg on Mars. Gravity is one of the problems future human missions to Mars will have to deal with, since living in a low-gravity environment will cause problems for human health. The red planet has seasons like Earth does. It is a cold planet. The temperature on Mars can drop to as low as 140 Kelvin (-133 degrees Celsius, or -207 degrees Fahrenheit). Occasionally at the equator the temperature of the surface can rise to above the melting point of ice (273 Kelvin, 0 degrees Celsius, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit). The average surface temperature on Mars is about 210 Kelvin (-63 degrees Celsius, or -81 degrees Fahrenheit). Due to great temperature variations occasionally vast dust storms occur on Mars that can cover almost the entire planet. One of such dust storms happened during the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity hardly survived that harsh environment. The dust storms are not the only cloud formations though, water/ice clouds also form above some of Mars's tallest mountains.

The average length of a Martian [|sidereal day] is 24h 37m 22.663s (based on [|SI] units), and the length of its [|solar day] (often called a //sol//) is 88,775.24409 seconds or 24h 39m 35.24409s. The corresponding values for Earth are 23h 56m 04.2s and 24h 00m 00.002s, respectively. This yields a conversion factor of 1.027491 days/sol. Thus Mars's solar day is only about 2.7% longer than Earth's. A convention used by spacecraft lander projects to date has been to keep track of local solar time using a 24 hour "Mars clock" on which the hours, minutes and seconds are 2.7% longer than their standard (Earth) durations. For the [|Mars Pathfinder] and [|Mars Exploration Rover] missions, the operations team has worked on "Mars time", with a work schedule synchronized to the local time at the landing site on Mars, rather than the Earth day. This results in the crew's schedule sliding approximately 40 minutes later in Earth time each day. Wristwatches calibrated in Martian time, rather than Earth time, were used by many of the MER team members.[|[][|1][|]] It is important to be aware of local solar time for purposes of planning the daily activities of Mars landers. Daylight is needed for the solar panels. Also, temperatures will rise and fall in very rapid synchronicity with the [|Sun] because, unlike on Earth, the thin atmosphere and lack of water do very little to buffer temperature fluctuations. Alternative clocks for Mars have been proposed, but no mission has chosen to use such. These include a [|metric time] schema, with "millidays" and "centidays", and an extended day which uses standard units but which counts to 24hr 39m 35s before ticking over to the next day. In the [|Mars Trilogy], concerning the fictional [|colonization of Mars], digital clocks use standard minutes and hours but freeze for a 'timeslip' of roughly 39 minutes at midnight. The [|analemma] for [|Mars] As on Earth, on Mars there is also an [|equation of time] that represents the difference between sundial time and uniform (clock) time. The equation of time is illustrated by an [|analemma]. Because of [|orbital eccentricity], the length of the solar day is not quite constant. Because its orbital eccentricity is greater than that of Earth, the length of day varies from the average by a greater amount than that of Earth, and hence its equation of time shows greater variation than that of Earth: on Mars, the Sun can run 50 minutes slower or 40 minutes faster than a Martian clock (on Earth, the corresponding figures are 14min 22sec slower and 16min 23sec faster). Mars has a [|prime meridian], defined as passing through the small crater [|Airy-0]. In the future, perhaps Mars could have [|time zones] defined at regular intervals from the prime meridian, as on Earth. However, for the time being, there is no need to co-ordinate the activities of the various landers, so each lander uses its own timezone (some approximation of local solar time), as cities did on Earth before the introduction of [|standard time] in the 19th century. Note that the modern standard for measuring longitude on Mars is "planetocentric longitude", which is measured from 0°–360° East and measures angles from the center of Mars. The older "planetographic longitude" was measured from 0°–360° West and used coordinates mapped onto the surface.[|[][|2][|]]

2.7% [|nitrogen] 1.6% [|argon] 0.13% [|oxygen] 0.08% [|carbon monoxide] 210 [|ppm] [|water] vapor 100 ppm [|nitric oxide] 15 ppm [|molecular hydrogen][|[][|10][|]] 2.5 ppm [|Neon] 850 [|ppb] [|HDO] 300 [|ppb] [|Krypton] 130 ppb [|formaldehyde] 80 ppb [|xenon] 30 ppb [|ozone] [//[|citation needed]//] 18 ppb [|hydrogen peroxide][|[][|11][|]] 10 ppb [|methane][|[][|12][|]] ||
 * ~ Surface [|pressure] || 0.636 (0.4–0.87) [|kPa] ||
 * ~ Composition || 95.32% [|carbon dioxide]

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Information from []

**Quick History**
An Observational History of Mars
 * 1) This year **the “**Astronomy on the Beach**”** at Kensington Metropark will focus on Mars and the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has generated a lot of interest recently, but why focus on Mars? I suppose the obvious answer is that Jupiter and Saturn are past their prime for this year and we don’t have any bright comets to work with. However Mars is a fascinating object and besides, this June Mars will be closer to the earth than it has been at any time since 1988.
 * 2) Observers have seen various types of clouds on Mars. They are known by the labels blue, white, yellow and W-shaped. These labels can be misleading. Yellow clouds look yellow to the eye, however blue clouds do not necessarily look blue, white clouds do not necessarily look white and W-shaped clouds are not always W shaped. Yellow clouds are composed of dust and sometimes grow to cover much of the Martian surface, when this happens it is known as a dust storm.
 * 3) The first probe to Mars, called Mars 1, was launched by Russia in 1962. It by-passed Mars but communication failed. It was followed by Zond 2, 1964 which failed. Zond 3 in 1965 transmitted pictures from a distance. In 1971, Mars 2's lander failed, but Mars 3 was successful. It orbited Mars and launched a lander which transmitted data. But it only lasted for 20 seconds and it was killed off by a dust storm. The orbiters continued to send back pictures but these were spoiled by the massive dust storm which hid the features. These successes were followed by Mars 4 and Mars 5 launched 1973, and Mars 6 and Mars 7. It was now possible to map the surface of Mars together with the data gathered by the Russian Mars probes and Nasa's Mariner 6 and 7 in 1969, and Mariner 9 in 1971. In 1975, Nasa sent Viking 1 and Viking 2 to Mars. They landed and transmitted pictures from the surface. The probes found no evidence for life but the pictures showed the dusty red surface covered with red rocks under a pink-red sky.The first successful Mars landings, Viking 1 and 2, proved that Mars had features such as craters, volcanic plains and large volcanic structures.
 * 4) Mars was once thought to have life on it. Observers noticed the canals on Mars and believed that they were created by intelligent life. In fact, observers believed that Mars was covered in water.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, both of which are relatively small in size and not shaped in perfect spheres like the Earth’s moon. Mars can be easily seen from Earth without a telescope at a brightness that is only surpassed by the planet Venus, the

South Polar Cap This image shows the south polar cap of Mars as it appears near its minimum size of about 400 kilometers (249 miles). It consists mainly of frozen carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide cap never melts completely. The ice appears reddish due to dust that has been incorporated into the cap. //(Courtesy NASA)//

The Tempature:

The daytime SURFACE temperature is about 80 F during rare summer days, to -200 F at the poles in winter. The AIR temperature, however, rarely gets much above 32 F. The temperatures on the two Viking landers, measured at 1.5 meters above the surface, range from + 1° F, ( -17.2° C) to -178° F (-107° C). However, the temperature of the surface at the winter polar caps drop to -225° F, (-143° C) while the warmest soil occasionally reaches +81° F (27° C) as estimated from Viking Orbiter Infrared Thermal Mapper. In 2004, the Spirit rover recorded the warmest temperature around +5 C and the coldest is -15 Celsius in the Guisev Crater.

Mars and its two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are thought to be captured asteroids.

Could there be Life?

Maybe?

The two rovers have found potential evidence of water on our red neighbor. Since so much of life as we know it is dependent on water, it is theoretically possible that life could have existed on Mars. But recent rover findings suggest that Mars had a very hostile weather environment, making it unsuitable for life. Until solid evidence of life is found on Mars, it's currently anyone's guess as to whether life existed there in the past. It is possible that some day Mars might sustain life in the form of humans. But in order for that to happen, science will need to advance. For example, water would not be easily obtainable on Mars for human consumption. Astronauts likely wouldn't be able to bring enough water along with them, so the need exists for an instrument to convert chemicals in Mars' soil, atmosphere into water (or even astronaut bodily fluid into water). Travel times to Mars also pose big exploration concerns for humans. The current estimates for a trip from Earth to Mars range anywhere from 120 days up to 260 days — and that's just one way! The temperature on Mars also poses a hazard to human colonization. Bring plenty of winter clothes, because the average surface temperature on Mars is -81°F. Science and technology have put men on the moon, so it's very possible that there will some day be life on Mars. However, current technologies do not exist to make traveling to Mars (and back) a routine task. One other question that some day needs to be answered: will earthlings that colonize Mars call themselves Martians?

Moons [|Mars] has two small **[|moons]**, [|Phobos] and [|Deimos], which are thought to be captured [|asteroids]. Both satellites were discovered in 1877 by [|Asaph Hall], and are named after the characters [|Phobos] (panic/fear) and [|Deimos] (terror/dread) who, in [|Greek mythology], accompanied their father [|Ares], god of war, into battle. Ares was known as Mars to the [|Romans].

Feel free to discuss Mars here.

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 * Q1. Mars is frequently engulfed in global dust storms. Why do these storms occur? **
 * Q2. Why is Mars’ atmosphere so thin today, compared to Earth’s? **
 * Q3. Why are there large seasonal changes in the atmospheric pressure on Mars? **
 * Q4. Describe the evolution of Mars atmosphere over time. **
 * Q5. Why is Mars’ atmosphere so very thin today? What evidence from surface features is there that Mars once had a dense atmosphere? **

** In the winter on Mars, a significant fraction of the atmosphere condenses onto the polar ice cap. The resulting low pressure over the pole causes a strong wind as air moves from the opposite pole (where summer heat is causing that ice cap the evaporate). These winds moving from one polar cap to the other cause global dust storms. ** ** A terrestrial planet’s atmosphere is released by volcanoes. In the case of Mars, its gravity is not strong enough to permanently retain an atmosphere. When the volcanoes became extinct, the atmosphere continues to leak away but no new gases were released to replace those that were lost. ** ** Mars is far enough from the Sun and cold enough for CO2 to condense into ice during the Martian winter. So much condenses that the atmospheric pressure changes appreciably. Correspondingly, when the ice cap sublimes in the summer the atmospheric pressure increases dramatically. ** ** Mars once had a dense, warm, humid atmosphere. While volcanoes were active, new gasses were released to replace those lost from the atmosphere due to the weak gravity or which condensed on the surface. When the volcanoes died, that replacement mechanism was lost. Water was gradually lost by the process outlined in the previous question and as permafrost in the soil. The weak gravity of the planet was unable to hold onto the atmosphere, which slowly evaporated from the planet. ** ** Mars is a small planet with weak gravity. Its atmosphere slowly leaks away to space. Now that all of its volcanoes are extinct, there is no source of new gas to resupply what has left. Dry river channels visible on the surface indicate that Mars’ climate was once warmer than today. If its atmosphere had always been as thin as we see today, liquid water could not have flowed on the surface. **

"The southern hemisphere of Mars is quite heavily cratered and resembles the surface of our Moon. The surface is old and has been relatively unchanged for some time. The northern hemisphere is quite different. It has few craters and these appear far less eroded indicating they are much younger than those of the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere shows much geologic activity. The surface has been smoothed by repeated lava flows indicating a great deal of volcanic activity. There is also a lot of deformed uplifted crustal sections along with collapsed depressions." " Martian volcanoes are the shield type like the Hawaiian islands on Earth. In these type, the lava flows freely and the lava flow can cover a tremendous area. The largest volcano on Mars is Olympus Mons. This volcano is a massive structure, with a base 600Km (370 mi.) across and towering 25km (16 mi.) high. This dwarfs Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the largest volcano on Earth which is only 10 km (6 mi.) high and 225 km (140 mi.) in diameter. Mauna Loa is so heavy it has actually sunk into the Earth's crust and formed a moat around itself. Olympus Mons does not show any sign of sinking and leads to the conclusion that the Martian crust is much thicker than Earth's." //Information obtained from: []//

=Other Mars Facts= The typical Mars day is usually one Earth day and 37 minutes. The typical Mars year is usually 680 Earth days. Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun. The eccentricity of Mars is 0.093. Mars rotates counter-clockwise.

This video was created by Kyle:

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