Top facts about Mars.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide. Mars Planet Profile Equatorial Diameter: 6,792 km Polar Diameter: 6,752 km Mass: 6.42 x 10^23 kg (10.7% Earth) Moons: 2 ( Phobos & Deimos ) Orbit Distance: 227,943,824 km (1.52 AU) Orbit Period: 687 days (1.9 years) Surface Temperature: -153 to 20 °C First Record: 2nd millennium BC Recorded By: Egyptian astronomers Mars Diagrams Mars size compared to Earth Mars distance from the Sun and orbital eccentricity Facts about Mars Mars and Earth have approximately the same landmass. Even though Mars has only 15% of the Earth’s volume and just over 10% of the Earth’s mass, around two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Martian surface gravity is only 37% of the Earth’s