Mars

[About the Planet]

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, with a striking red surface coated in iron oxide: ordinary rust. Apart from Earth, it is the planet that attracts the most human attention, and the place where many probes have gone to sleep.

[Extreme Environments]
Mars is a cold, dry desert. It has the Solar System's largest volcano, Olympus Mons, and enormous chasms. Its thin atmosphere offers little protection from cosmic radiation. The sky is a bleak, dusty orange-red. No flowing water, only endless dust storms.

[Orbit]
Mars takes about 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun. Its tilted axis gives it seasons like ours, but each is longer and lonelier. From the Martian wilderness, the Sun looks smaller and colder than it does from Earth.

[Did You Know?]
People once imagined Mars as the home of an alien civilization. In reality, it looks more like a graveyard abandoned by its creator. Wander its wastelands, and all you will hear is the wind.

[Symbols & Legends]

In astrology, Mars represents action, competition, conflict and aggression. In Roman mythology, Mars is the god of war: bloodshed, anger and an endless hunger for conquest.

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