Something Special About Mars
- Mars used to be an Earth like planet but its atmosphere was too thin and it was too cold and the water froze.
- Mars contains the biggest volcano in the solar system called the Olympus Mons (picture above). This volcano has a diameter of 500 km and a height of 22 km. According to scientists, Olympus Mons would appear to approximately be less than 100 billion years old. This gigantic volcano is located in Mars' western hemisphere. Mariner 9, which is a space orbiter discovered Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons is also three times the size of Mount Everest.
- Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our solar system (bottom left picture). They often occur when Mars is closest to the sun.
- Mars contains the largest canyon in the solar system called the Valles Marineris (above). This canyon is made by a huge dent in Mars' crust and it was discovered and named after by Mariner 9 . It is 4000 km long, 500km wide and 7 km deep.
- Mars have two permanent ice caps. If you don't know, an ice cap is when a huge amount of ice is covering a big block of land. Mars has one in their northern hemisphere and one in their southern hemisphere ( see in the left diagram). According to scientists, due to the area of mars' ice caps there is a chance that the ice may melt and will create water. This means that humans can live on Mars
- In 2019, astronauts will visit mars and will observe the land to see what its like. Mars is the most explored planet in the Solar System By using telescopes, scientist saw water canals and changing of seasons which is why they are so curious. Scientists are very curious about Mars, that in February 9th 2013 they sent a robot called NASA'S curiosity rover to drill the ground in mars to get a sample from its surface.