Mars The latest mission to Mars touched down on the 6 August It is called the Mars Scientific Laboratory otherwise known as, Curiosity. This is a huge achievement for the scientists and engineers that planned this mission. Who knows what Curiosity will discover in the next two years? What is certain is that something new and exciting will be discovered. In the meantime let us learn a little more about Mars.

Mars and the Solar System Mars belongs to a small part of the Milky Way Galaxy known as the Solar System. The Solar System is the name given to the Sun and all the other objects that orbit (go round) the Sun. There are eight planets in the solar system as well as comets (dirty snowballs) and rocks called asteroid’s. Approximately 150 moons have been discovered orbiting the planets. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Mars Scientists studying the evolution of the solar system think that the entire solar system was created out of a collapsing ball of gas and dust. From studying rocks on Earth and understanding the processes that make the Sun shine we have estimated that the Solar System is approximately 5 billion years old. That means that Mars and Earth are 5 billion years old.

The Solar System Mars is the 4 th rock from the sun, approximately 220 million km distant.

This picture is to scale. Can you see some differences between each planet? Mars is much smaller. Mars doesn’t have any seas, oceans or rivers and it has very little atmosphere.

Mars Facts Mars is about half the diameter of the Earth. There is less gravity on Mars therefore you weigh less. Mars has the largest volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons. It is more than twice the height of Mount Everest. There is no surface water on Mars. The atmosphere is only 1% as thick as Earth’s and is mainly made of Carbon Dioxide gas. The temperature on Mars can range from 0 O C to -150 O C. This means that Mars is too cold and too dry for humans to live on the surface. There is no atmosphere to breathe therefore we couldn’t survive without special protection.

Mars Scientists think that life got started on Earth about 3 billion years ago. Although Mars now appears to be cold and barren, 3 billion years ago it was once just like Earth. Did life get started on Mars?

Life on Mars? Scientists are now almost certain that Mars was very like Earth billions of years ago. If that is the case then perhaps life got started there just like it did on Earth. The hunt is now on to try and find evidence on Mars of simple life forms like bacteria. Even finding fossilised remains would be a monumental discovery.

Life on Mars? Mars has many geological features that are similar to Earth. There are mountains, huge volcanoes (extinct) valleys and gigantic canyons. There is a lot of evidence that vast quantities of water used to flow on Mars. Mars was warmer, wetter and had more atmosphere in the past. This means that conditions were more favourable for life to exist in the past. Curiosity’s primary mission goal is to find signs that life got started in the past. Let’s look at how Curiosity landed on the surface of Mars.

This 50 second clip shows the descent of curiosity from the release of the heat shield, to the final moments of being lowered by the sky crane. Remember this video has been sent from another world.

Missions to Mars No humans have visited Mars but several spacecraft have landed and several satellites have orbited the planet to map its features. At present 3 satellites are orbiting Mars. This photograph of Curiosity parachuting towards the surface was captured by a Mars satellite. One second too early or too late and this photograph would have been missed.

This video shows the landing sites of all six NASA spacecraft to reach Mars—Viking 1, Viking 2, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix—and the target location where Curiosity touched down.

Mars is a place that is very familiar to us. It looks like many desert landscapes found on Earth. This is Endeavour crater photographed by the rover Opportunity last year.

This is a picture of Curiosity in action while it was being tested before launch. It is the size of a car and weighs 900 kg. It is the largest and most advanced robotic rover ever built. The whole project has cost $2.5 billion.

Would you like to be involved in space exploration? There are so many different jobs for engineers, geologists, physicists, chemists, biologists and astronomers. From building rockets and rovers to designing scientific equipment and specialised cameras. Remember, aim high and reach for the stars. This is a picture of Curiosity taken on Mars a few days ago using its mast camera. Remember Mars is 70 million km away!