Mars is situated at a distance of 227,940,000 km away from the sun.

Mars is named after the Greek God of War.

1 Mars day is equal to 24.6 Earth Hours.

1 Mars year is equivalent to 686.98 Earth Days.

Mars is recognized by its red and dusty landscape.Mars has a diameter of 4,200 miles, about half of the diameter of Earth.

Mars is a “lighter” planet than Earth, having only 11 percent of the mass of Earth.

Mars has a thin atmosphere of primarily carbon dioxide.

Mars has a volatile temperature range from day to day and minute to minute, with 20-degree changes in few minutes being common.

Temperatures can range from 80 degrees during the day to 100 degrees below zero at night.

Mars has planet wide dust storms that can cover the surface for long periods of time.

The largest canyon on Mars is Valles Marineris, which is 2,500 miles long and as much as 2 miles deep.

Mars has seasons like the Earth because it tilts on its axis in a manner similar to us.

Mars does not appear to have active tectonic plates.

Much like Earth, Mars has ice caps at the north and south poles. More importantly, the polar caps tend to grow and decrease in size depending upon the season. This would appear to indicate a water creation mechanism, but it is not understood.

Mars was believed to have had flowing water like the Earth at one point in time.

Mars Pathfinder found chemical compositions in rocks that can only be created when water is present, again verifying the planet had vast water deposits at some point in the past.

Mars is referred to as the Red Planet because of its distinct red color.

Mars had a magnetic field like the Earth, but has lost it.

The temperature in Mars fluctuates from a maximum of 0 ° C ( 32° F) to a minimum of -100° C (-148° F).

Mars has roughly the same surface area of the Earth, but is much less dense.

A Martian year is more than twice that of the Earth – 687 days.

Mars atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, which is toxic to most life in such large quantities.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Diemos.

Both Mars moons have diameters of roughly 20 kilometers.

The ground on Mars is complex and different. It has deep canyons, mountains, volcanoes and craters. The largest mountain in the Solar System, Olympus Mons, stands on Mars. It stands at an altitude of 24 km (78,000 feet) with a base that is 600 km across.

A system of canyons, Valles Marineris stretch out over the surface of Mars. It is spread over nearly 2,500 miles (4000 km). These canyons can get up to 200 km wide and 6 km deep too in some areas.
Once upon a time, there were large amounts of water on Mars. It is said that river systems and even lakes and oceans existed some 4 billion years ago. This has led scientists to believe that Mars may have supported life some billion of years ago.

Dust storms can cover much of Mars for months at a time.

Olympus Mons is the largest volcano on Mars and in the solar system.

Olympus Mons covers an area larger than the state of Arizona.

The seventh largest planet in the Solar System is Mars.
Mars is made up of iron, covered by rock and then a thin layer of atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon along with traces of oxygen constitute the atmosphere on Mars.

In 1965, Mariner 4, visited Mars. It transmitted 22 pictures of life of the Martian surface back to Earth. The pictures unveiled the truth-there were no signs of water or life on Earth.

NASA has planned a manned mission to Mars, but no launch date has been set.

Multiple probes have been sent to Mars and two rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, are currently on the surface.

Mars surface material returned by probes has shown possible signs of bacterial life, sparking energetic debate in the scientific community as to whether life exists on the planet.