Mars is one of the most intriguing planets in the solar system. Being the fourth from the Sun and Earth’s immediate neighbor, it has sparked the interest of multiple scientific organizations like NASA and CNSA.
With multiple missions scheduled for the Red Planet, many scientists and billionaires have pondered its possibility for life, and many are considering sending human-led expeditions to the planet. However, behind all the discoveries and missions are mind-blowing facts about planet Mars; these elusive facts can be terrifying and even world-shattering.
So, today, we will dive into them as we explore 25 fascinating fun facts about Mars.
Physical Characteristics
There are multiple articles about Mars’s physical characteristics, and it’s almost impossible not to find these details everywhere. However, there are hidden facts about the planet’s physical composition that not many people know about. They include:
Marsquakes
1. Yes, that’s right, just like Earth, Mars gets quakes. Even though seismic activity on the Red Planet is lower than on Earth, some quakes can be intense.
2. On the 4th of May 2022, a seismometer on the InSight Lander detected a massive quake on Mars. The reading placed the magnitude of the event at 5, and according to calculations, the crater created by the marsquake would have been a staggering 300 meters.
Martian Seasons
The Earth has four seasons: summer, autumn, winter, and spring; these seasons are determined by our planet’s position from the Sun and its tilted alignment.
3. Like Earth, the Red Planet also experiences seasonality. The planet has four seasons that are significantly longer than Earth due to the planet’s revolution.
4. The distinct seasons on the Red Planet are summer, autumn, winter, and spring. You expected something else, right? We too. However, like Earth, Mars goes through season changes.
5. It doesn’t rain on the Red Planet in spring; this is due to the frigid temperatures on the planet, which forces water vapor to frost.
6. As for winter, the planet snows dry ice. Because Mars has a large amount of carbon in its atmosphere, its snow is mostly gaseous carbon forced to become solid.
The Ocean Theory
7. There is a simple reason why many scientists and enthusiastic billionaires believe Mars can someday house human life. It is because of the idea that the planet once had water.
8. Many theories supporting the Red Planet’s ocean came since John E. Brandenburg published his hypothesis that Mars once had a liquid ocean on its surface in 1987. The leading theory proposes that water once covered a third of the Red Planet’s surface.
Many expeditions sent to the Red Planet are still equipped with sensors that can detect the possibility of water on it.
9. You may be confused and ask: Where did all the water on Mars go if it was so massive? Many scientists suspect the planet’s ocean hasn’t vanished but is hidden beneath the planet’s surface.
10. Others believe the planet lost its water due to atmospheric sputtering and sublimation.
A Deceptive Surface
11. Whenever you look at Mars, it appears to be a horrid, desolate land like Earth’s deserts. You may feel the desert-looking world, like our deserts, is hot. You’d be incredibly wrong, as the planet has an insane temperature range from -238 °F to 68 °F (-153 °C to 20 °C). On average, the surface temperature on the red world sits at a frigid -85 °F (-65 °C).
Land Formations
Though the Red Planet appears uniform, there are many irregularities on its surface that people are clueless about. Here are some distinct land formation facts about Mars:
It Has More Relief
12. Though the Red Planet is half as big as Earth, it has significantly more relief than our blue planet. Mars has a higher elevation range (the distance between the lowest and highest points on a planet’s surface) than Earth. Its elevation range is 18 miles (29 kilometers) compared to the Earth’s 13 miles (21 kilometers).
The Largest Mountain in the Solar System
13. Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth. It has a height of about 5.5 miles (8,900 meters) and covers a surface area of 478 square miles (124,400 hectares). However, it’s child’s play compared to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and mountain in the solar system.
14. Olympus Mons, on Mars, has a staggering height of 16 miles (26 kilometers), over three times Everest, and a surface area of 115830 square miles (30,000,000 hectares), bigger than the United Kingdom.
Moons
15. There are two known natural satellites revolving around Mars. They are Deimos and Phobos. Both moons are relatively small (7.4 and 13.6 miles (12 and 22 kilometers in diameter)).
16. Though tiny, Deimos and Phobos exert minute gravitation forces on Mars that cause the planet to bulge while they revolve. That’s right, the moons pull the Red Planet’s surface as they move around it.
The Largest Canyon in The Solar System
17. Besides having the tallest volcano, Mars has the deepest point in our solar system. The Valles Marineris is a massive canyon many scientists believe is a tectonic crack.
18. It is 2485 miles (4000 kilometers) long, 124 miles (200 kilometers) wide, and has a staggering depth of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers); this makes it the largest canyon in the solar system and also the deepest point in the solar system.
19. Though you may think the Mariana Trench beats Valles Marineris’s depth, you’d be wrong. When measuring distance, geologists use different methods to determine relative depth.
20. If we exclude the initial depth of the Pacific Ocean, Valles Marineris beats the Mariana Trench as it’s 5.6 miles (9 kilometers from its actual top to the lowest point. The Mariana Trench measures about 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) if we start measuring from the sea floor without adding the ocean’s depth above.
Unbelievably Fascinating Facts About Mars
Now that you have learned quite a bit about the Red Planet and its formations, here are some secret fun facts about the planet Mars you never knew.
21. One year on Mars is 687 days, almost twice the Earth. The Red Planet’s lengthier year stems from its orbit around the Sun, about 142 million miles (228 million kilometers).
22. Mars has one of the largest crater basins in the solar system. The Borealis Basin is an 8500-kilometer-wide relief formed when a colossal meteorite impacted the surface of the Red Planet. The basin was so huge it made a dent that covered about 40% of Mars’s surface.
23. Mars has a weak gravitational force that’s 37% less than Earth. That doesn’t mean you’d float.
24. The Red Planet has a rotation time similar to Earth. It takes about 24 hours and 37 minutes to rotate around its 25.2° axis, close to Earth’s 23.5°.
25. There have been about 77 missions related to Mars. However, about 41 were successful. Currently, there are only 9 operational expeditions on the Red Planet.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed learning our 25 Mars fun facts. If you enjoyed this article, you’d love that on the Sun. You can also search through our Facts Database for more fun facts. Don’t forget to leave us a comment and share.
