Mars is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere.
It has seasons, polar ice caps and weather and canyons and extinct volacanoes,
evidence of an even more active past.
It's the only planet where we've sent rovers to roam the alien landscape.
NASA currently has three spacecraft in orbit, one rover on the surface and another rover
under construction here on Earth. India and ESA also have spacecraft in orbit above the Mars.
Mars is a rocky planet. Its solid surface has been altered by volcanoes, impacts, winds,
crustal movement and chemical reactions.
Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2),
argon (Ar), nitrogen (N2), and a small amount of oxygen and water vapor.
Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos.
Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil
oxidize, or rust, causing the soil and atmosphere to look red.