- Distance
- 1.52 AU
- Diameter
- 6,779 km
- Year
- 687 days
- Day
- 24 h 37 m
- Moons
- 2
About Mars
Mars gets its colour from iron oxide, rust, in its soil. It has a thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere, polar ice caps of water and frozen CO₂, and seasons similar to Earth's thanks to a comparable axial tilt. Olympus Mons rises 22 km high and Valles Marineris stretches 4,000 km across the surface. Dry riverbeds, deltas and minerals that form in water show Mars was once warmer and wetter. It has two small, lumpy moons, Phobos and Deimos, probably captured asteroids. More spacecraft have visited Mars than any planet other than Earth.
- Olympus Mons is nearly three times the height of Everest
- Gravity is 38% of Earth's
- Rovers Curiosity and Perseverance are active on the surface
Moons
| Name | Diameter | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Phobos | 22 km | A lumpy, cratered body orbiting so close to Mars that it circles the planet three times a day. It is slowly spiralling inward and will break apart or crash in about 50 million years. |
| Deimos | 12 km | The smaller, smoother outer moon, taking 30 hours to orbit. Both moons are probably captured asteroids or debris from a giant impact. |
In pictures
