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MARS - THE RED PLANET

Mont Mercou - a landform on the slopes of the Red Planet's 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) Mount Sharp.

May 24, 2001 -- Twenty five years ago something funny happened around Mars. NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft was circling the planet, snapping photos of possible landing sites for its sister ship Viking 2, when it spotted the shadowy likeness of a human face. An enormous head nearly two miles from end to end seemed to be staring back at the cameras from a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia.

mean surface temperature 210 K (−82 °F, −63 °C) typical surface pressure 0.006 bar number of known moons 2 mean distance from Sun 227,943,824 km (1.5 AU) the atmosphere is very thin and composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Mars has more craters still scarring its surface than Earth (where, because of plate tectonics and weathering, lots of the surface is changed over time).

field strewn with pieces of a volcanic rock that are very similar to the scoria found on Earth. The rock in the foreground of the image is about 18 inches across and was found by the Spirit Rover. The rock has a rough surface and vesicles like scoria.

LARGE, WATER-CARVED CHANNEL ON MARS CALLED DAO VALLIS.

Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. Arid, rocky, cold and apparently lifeless, the Red Planet offers few hospitalities. Fans of extreme sports can rejoice, however, for the Red Planet will challenge even the hardiest souls among us. Home to the largest volcano in the solar system, the deepest canyon and crazy weather and temperature patterns, Mars looms as the ultimate lonely planet destination.

Mars’ atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide (about 96 percent), with minor amounts of other gases such as argon and nitrogen. The atmosphere is very thin, however, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is only about 0.6 percent of Earth’s (101,000 pascals).