Atmosphere
Thin and mostly carbon dioxide, about 1% of Earth’s pressure. Planet-wide dust storms can last for months.
Distance from Earth today
240.3M km
In astronomical units
1.606 AU
Light travel time
13m 21s
Overview.
Mars is a cold desert world whose red color comes from iron oxide — rust — in its dust.
Ancient river valleys and lake beds show that liquid water once flowed here, making Mars a top target in the search for past life.
- Diameter
- 6,779 km
- Distance from Sun
- 227.9M km
- Year
- 687 Earth days
- Day
- 24h 37m
- Gravity
- 0.38 g
- Moons
- 2
The real Mars
Through spacecraft eyes.
Two views of Mars assembled from thousands of Viking Orbiter images, revealing its polar caps, dark markings and enormous canyons.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / USGS
Surface & interior
Home to Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system (about 22 km high), and Valles Marineris, a canyon as long as the USA.
Moons & rings
Two small, potato-shaped moons: Phobos and Deimos, probably captured asteroids.
Missions.
- Viking 1 & 2 (1976)
- Curiosity rover (2012–)
- Perseverance rover & Ingenuity helicopter (2021–)
Wow facts.
- Sunsets on Mars glow blue.
- You would weigh about 38% of your Earth weight there.
- Mars has polar ice caps of water ice and frozen CO₂.
Yana asks
Could people one day grow food on Mars?
Cover: artistic illustration. Spacecraft images and radar visualizations: credited NASA mission data.