Venus

Official Name: Mars

Distance from the Sun: approximately 1.5 AU

Mass: 6.42 x 10 23 kilograms

Myth: Mars was the sun of Jupiter and Juno. He is the Roman god of war and was Venus’s lover. He was the father of Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city of Rome. It is said that since Mar’s sons founded the city, Mars would come aid the city when it was in crisis. The month of March is named after Mars. Interior Physical Properties: Mars is known as the “Red Planet” because of its iron rich minerals found in the surface. The core of Mars is very dense and is made of iron, nickel and sulfur. Surrounding the core is the mantle. Unlike Earth’s mantle, the mantle inside of Mars is solid and rocky. Lastly, the crust is made out of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium.

Geology: Mars is rocky and dusty. It is home to the highest mountain in the solar system and the deepest and longest valley in the solar system. There has been evidence of having an abundance of water 3.5 billion years ago, but the atmosphere is too thin to keep the remaining water in its liquid state.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere surrounding Mars is thin and is made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon gases. Around 4 billion years ago, Mars did contain a magnetosphere, however, numerous asteroid strikes and solar winds stripped away the magnetic atoms and lowered Mar’s atmosphere density.

Mission Overview: In August of 2007, NASA launched a rover to study Mars’ north pole. Ice was recently found close to the surface and NASA wanted to learn more about the planet’s history. The mission and rover were called Phoenix. The machine had mechanical arms that dug trenches into the soil to collect samples. With these samples, the rover would use its chemical analysis instruments to determine the composition of the planet. After a year, the mission was declared a success; however, engineers did lose contact with the rover. In 2010, another Mars mission confirmed that the Phoenix rover was dead. There is speculation that the cold atmospheric temperatures and a cloud blocked the rover’s solar panels and it ran out of power.