Mars

Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun and is known as "The Red Planet" because of it's red dust and rock that is on the surface of the planet. Mars is the second smallest planet after Mercury. Mars is also a Terrestrial or a Inner Planet.

Overview
Mars is the only planet to have Rovers to explore it's surface. Mars has approximately the same landmass and Mars has 15% of the Earths volume and 10% more, and the surface of Mars is 37% of that of Earths, so you could jump 3 times higher than on Earth. Mars is also home to the largest mountain in The Solar System, Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons is a very large shield volcano reaching 21 km in height, and 600 km in diameter. Mars has the largest dust storms in the Solar System. The dust storms could last for more than a month and cover up the entire planet. Mars gets it's red color from Iron Oxide. Iron Oxide looks like a gray, rusty substance that the Planet produces. On Mars, the Sun looks half as big as on Earth. Mars was named after The Roman God Of War, Ares. Mars has a canyon system on it's equator called Valles Marineris. Mars has 2 Natural Satellites or Moons and Mars also has the most Moons of the Terrestrial or Inner Planets. Their names are Phobos and Deimos. In the next 20 - 40 million years, Mars will have a ring. Mars's largest moon, Phobos, will be torn apart due to Gravitational Forces and will create a set of rings. It takes Mars 687 Earth Days to orbit the Sun.

The surface of Mars can be separated into two broad features, which, coincidentally, are divided by the planet’s hemisphere. The northern hemisphere is seen to be relatively smooth with few craters, whereas the southern hemisphere is an area of highlands that are more heavily cratered than the northern plains. Other than topographical differences, the distinguishing feature of the two regions appears to be geological activity, with the northen plains being much more active.

The Martian surface is home to both the largest known volcano, Olympus Mons, and largest known canyon, Valles Marineris, in the Solar System. With a height of 25 km and a base diameter of 600 km, Olympus Mons is three times the height of Mount. Everest, the tallest mountain on the Earth. Valles Marineris is 4,000 km long, 200 km wide, and almost 7 km deep. To put the shear magnitude of its size into perspective, Valles Marineris would stretch from the East to West coast of the United States.

Perhaps the most significant discovery regarding the Martian surface was the presence of channels. What is so meaningful about these channels is that they appear to have been created by running water, and thus providing evidence to support the theory that Mars could have been much more similar to the Earth at one time.

A surface feature that has remained in popular culture since its image surfaced is the “ Face on Mars. ” When this photograph was captured by the Viking I spacecraft in 1976, many took it to be proof that alien life existed on Mars. However, subsequent images showed that lighting (and a little imagination) are what brought life to the formation.