Mars landing and probes :: essays research papers

damage (Greek Ares) is the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its cherry color Mars is sometimes referred to as the Red Planet. (An interesting office note the Roman god Mars was a god of gardening before becoming associated with the Greek Ares those in favor of colonizing and terraforming Mars may prefer this symbolism.) The name of the month March derives from Mars. Mars has been known since prehistoric times. It is still a favorite of science fiction writers as the or so favorable place in the Solar System (other than Earth) for forgiving habitation. But the famous "canals" "seen" by Lowell and others were, unfortunately, just as imaginary as Barsoomian princesses. The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Several others followed including Mars 2, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and the two Viking landers in 1976 (left). Ending a long 20 course of instruction hiatus, Mars Pathfinder arrive successfully on Mars on 199 7 July 4 (right). In 2004 the Mars Expedition Roers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" landed on Mars sending back geologic data and many a(prenominal) pictures. Mars orbit is significantly elliptical. One result of this is a temperature variation of somewhat 30 C at the subsolar point between aphelion and perihelion. This has a study influence on Mars climate. While the average temperature on Mars is slightly 218 K (-55 C, -67 F), Martian surface temperatures range widely from as poor as 140 K (-133 C, -207 F) at the winter pole to to the highest degree 300 K (27 C, 80 F) on the day side during summer. though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the like as the land surface area of Earth. Except for Earth, Mars has the almost highly varied and interesting terrain of any of the terrestrial planets, some of it sort of spectacular Olympus Mons the largest mountain in the Solar System locomote 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. Its b ase is more than euchre km in diameter and is rimmed by a falling off 6 km (20,000 ft) high (right). Tharsis a huge bulge on the Martian surface that is about 4000 km across and 10 km high. Valles Marineris a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep (top of page) Hellas Planitia an impact crater in the southern hemisphere over 6 km deep and 2000 km in diameter.