This report is about Mars. It will discuss many facts over Mars some over its moons.

Mars is little more than half the earth in size. It has a diameter of 4, 217 miles. It orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit at an average distance of 141, 636, 000 miles. The period of revolution is 687 days. The density is 3.94 times that of water. The rotational axis is tilted 25 degrees so that Mars has seasons similar to those of the earth. Much detail can be seen on the surface of the planet: red-orange areas, marred with dark blue-gray, and bright white polar caps. The atmoshpere is 95 percent carbon dioxide, 2 percent nitrogen, with traces of carbon monoxide, oxygen, and argon. Atmospheric pressure at the surface is 7.5 milllibars, about 1 percent that of the earth. Temperatures recorded by the Viking 1 lander ranged from a midafternoon summer reading of -29 degrees Celsius to a low of -85 degrees Celsius at dawn. The Viking 2 lander site, closer to the pole, recorded a low of -129 degrees Celsius. At neither of the sites did the temperature rise above freezing and there is no liquid water on the planet today.

The equatorial region is marred by the great rift zone, which stretches for 3,000 miles and reaches a width of 45 miles and a depth of 4 miles. The most remarkable features in the north are the four huge shield volcanoes which rise to heights of 18 miles. The largest of this complex system, Olympus Mons, is 320 miles across at the base. North of the equator, extending from the chaotic zones, are many meandering channels with tributaries which appear to be stream valleys. The polar caps consist of a mixture of frozen carbon dioxide and frozen water.

Mars has two small satellites, Phobos and Deimos, Which orbit in circular orbits in the planet's equatorial plane. These moons are probably captured asteroids.

Mars has a canyon called Valles Marineris.

It also has a huge mountain called Olympus.

In the past few decades, Russian and American spacecraft have made a steady stream of flights to Mars. Some of these have had little success in attempting to explore the red planet. A peak at the full list of missions, found below, illustrates the many launches and failures as humankind attempted to reach Mars. A subset of the missions area listed here: Mariner 4, 6, 7, &9- Russian 1971- Russian 1974- Viking I & II- Phobos- Mars Observer- Mars '96- The Mars Surveyor Program- Mars Pathfinder- Mars Global Surveyor- Mars '98.

Recently the American space agency, NASA, has launched a series of missions on a coordinated program to explore Mars. This program is entitled the Mars Surveyor Program. As part of this program, Mars Global Surveyor was launched on November 7, 1996 and Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 6, 1996. Mars '98 was launched in December of 1998.

During November and December, Mars lurks in the southwest as darkness falls less than one-third of the way up in the sky. A spectacular conjunction is between the crescent moon and Mars on December 12, 1999.

Mars is an interesting planet. Much research is being done on this planet. I believe that this research is useful. One day, I believe that people will colonize Mars.

 

Cameron Smith