- The red planet.
- The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Ares, their god of war.
- Orbital distance 228 million km (141.8 million miles) 1.542AU.
- Diameter 6,800km (4,226 miles)
- Orbital period 686.97 days
- Its surface temperature -63 to 20°C.
- Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos
- A day on Mars is about 30 minutes longer than a day on Earth, like ours the planet has an atmosphere, seasons and polar ice caps.
- Mars has many massive volcanoes and is home to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system, it stands 21 km high (Everest is 9 km) and is 600 km across the base. (London to Edinburgh).
- Mars has been explored more than any other foreign planet. The first spacecraft to land on Mars was the Russian ‘Mars 2’ in 1971.
