Planet 4 of 8
Mars
The rusted frontier
Cold, dry and red with iron oxide, Mars keeps the fingerprints of ancient rivers and lakes — and remains the leading candidate for human footprints beyond Earth.
Quick facts
- Type
- Terrestrial
- Distance from Sun
- 1.52 AU
- Diameter
- 6,779 km
- Mass
- 0.107 × Earth
- Surface gravity
- 3.72 m/s²
- Day length
- 24.6 hours
- Year length
- 687 Earth days
- Moons
- 2
- Average temperature
- -63 °C
- Composition
- Iron-oxide rich crust, thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere
Fun facts
- Olympus Mons is the tallest volcano in the Solar System at ~22 km.
- Valles Marineris stretches over 4,000 km — as wide as the USA.
- Its two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are likely captured asteroids.
- Global dust storms can cover the whole planet for weeks.