28 Mars Fun Facts About The Red Planet

Posted on by Emily Rokke
Category: Fun Facts,Strange History,Strange Stories,Weird Places,Weird Science
  • Like there is dry ice on the surface of the planet, for context of the temperature

What do you know about the red planet? Do you know that no human has ever stepped foot on the planet Mars?

  1. Hellas Planitia is a huge crater on Mars located on the Red Planet’s southern hemisphere. It’s over 3.7 miles deep and 1.242 miles across.
  2. One of the most distinctive features of Mars is its “channels,” which almost appear as if they were made with running water. 
  3. Mars has a very thin atmosphere, about 100 times thinner than the Earth’s.
  4. Mars has seasons like Earth, but they last longer. The other planets take longer to orbit the son but also because of Mars’ egg-shaped orbit, the seasons vary in length.
  5. Mars gives the month March its name.
  6. Over the winter, a layer of carbon dioxide frost, also known as dry ice forms on the surface of Mars. Is this something you knew about the red planet?
  7. Spring on Mars is the longest season, lasting for about 194 days. 
  8. Fall is the shortest Mars season at just about 142 days.
  9. No human has ever stepped on foot Mars.
  10. There is very little oxygen on Mars and you could not breathe on the surface without extra oxygen.
  11. The atmosphere on Mars is too thin for liquid water to remain on the surface.
  12. Mars’ atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon gases. Did you know this about the planet Mars?
  13. The first spacecraft to land on Mars were the Viking Landers in 1976.
  14. The first NASA rover to land on Mars was called Sojourner in 1997.
  15. Two more NASA rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars in 2004.
  16. In 2018, NASA rover “Curiosity” found evidence of liquid water, aka a lake, under the planet’s polar caps. Meaning there could have been life on Mars at one time. 
  17. The rover “Perseverance” was the fifth rover to land on Mars and it drilled into the surface for more explorations.
  18. Galileo Galilei was the first to observe Mars from a telescope in 1610.
  19. Mars is 141.6 million miles away from the Sun.
  20. Light from the sun will reach Mars in about 13 minutes.
  21. Mars is visible to the naked eye so you can see it without a telescope or binoculars. What a fun fact about the red planet.
  22. The biggest planet in the Solar System is Jupiter, over 20 times the diameter of Mars. Did you know this about the size of the red planet?
  23. There have been 40 missions to Mars, with only 18 of them being successful.
  24. Mars has evidence of ancient river valley networks, lakebeds, and deltas as well as minerals and rocks on the surface that can only be formed with the presence of liquid water.
  25. Some of the features on the surface of Mars sow that there was possibly a huge flood around 3.5 billion years ago.
  26. Earth is the only planet with confirmed life but out of all of the other planets, Mars has the possibilities for life.
  27. NASA’s Mariner 4 sent the first 22 close up pictures of Mars in 1965.
  28. In 1971, Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit Mars and complete the mapping of almost the entire surface of the planet. 

What did you learn about the red planet that you didn’t already know? Tell me all about it in the comments!