Mars: Facts & Figures

Mars: Facts & Figures

Water-ice clouds, polar ice, polar regions, and geological features can be seen in this full-disk image of Mars.

Mars is a cold desert world. It is half the diameter of Earth and has the same amount of dry land. Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons and weather, but its atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but evidence for water now exists mainly in icy soil and thin clouds.

Discovered By		Known by the Ancients
Date of Discovery		Unknown
Orbit Size Around Sun (semi-major axis)		Metric: 227,943,824 km English: 141,637,725 miles Scientific Notation: 2.2794382 x 108 km (1.523662 A.U.) By Comparison: 1.524 x Earth
Perihelion (closest)		Metric: 206,655,215 km English: 128,409,598 miles Scientific Notation: 2.06655 x 108 km (1.381 A.U.) By Comparison: 1.405 x Earth
Aphelion (farthest)		Metric: 249,232,432 km English: 154,865,853 miles Scientific Notation: 2.49232 x 108 km (1.666 A.U.) By Comparison: 1.639 x Earth
Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year)		1.8808476 Earth years 686.98 Earth days By Comparison: 1.881 x Earth
Orbit Circumference		Metric: 1,429,085,052 km English: 887,992,283 miles Scientific Notation: 1.429 x 109 km By Comparison: 1.520 x Earth
Average Orbit Velocity		Metric: 86,677 km/h English: 53,858 mph Scientific Notation: 2.4077 x 104 m/s By Comparison: 0.808 x Earth
Orbit Eccentricity		0.0933941 By Comparison: 5.589 x Earth
Orbit Inclination		1.85 degrees
Equatorial Inclination to Orbit		25.2
Mean Radius		Metric: 3,389.5 km English: 2,106.1 miles Scientific Notation: 3.3895 x 103 km By Comparison: 0.5320 x Earth
Equatorial Circumference		Metric: 21,296.9 km English: 13,233.3 miles Scientific Notation: 2.12969 x 104 km
Volume		Metric: 163,115,609,799 km3 English: 39,133,515,914 mi3 Scientific Notation: 1.63116 X 1011 km3 By Comparison: 0.151 x Earth
Mass		Metric: 641,693,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg Scientific Notation: 6.4169 x 1023 kg By Comparison: 0.107 x Earth
Density		Metric: 3.934 g/cm3 By Comparison: 0.714 x Earth
Surface Area		Metric: 144,371,391 km2 English: 55,742,106 square miles Scientific Notation: 1.4437 x 108 km2 By Comparison: 0.283 x Earth
Surface Gravity		Metric: 3.71 m/s2 English: 12.2 ft/s2 By Comparison: If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 38 pounds on Mars.
Escape Velocity		Metric: 18,108 km/h English: 11,252 mph Scientific Notation: 5.030 x 103 m/s By Comparison: Escape velocity of Earth is 25,030 mph.
Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day)		1.026 Earth days 24.623 hours By Comparison: Earth's rotation period is 23.934 hours.
Minimum/Maximum Surface Temperature		Metric: -87 to -5 °C English: -125 to 23 °F Scientific Notation: 186 to 268 K
Atmospheric Constituents		Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, Argon Scientific Notation: CO2, N2, Ar By Comparison: CO2 is responsible for the Greenhouse Effect and is used for carbonation in beverages. N2 is 80% of Earth's air and is a crucial element in DNA. Ar is used to make blue neon light bulbs.