Mars facts you might not know about

- Mars is red because it is rusty. There is a lot of iron in the soil, and the air on Mars has made it turn red-just like rusty iron on Earth.

- One of Mars’ moons, Phobos, is moving closer and closer to Mars. Scientists think that one day it will crash into Mars.

- Mars has the tallest Volcano in the Solar System named Olympus Mons and it is 15 miles high which is three times the height of Mount Everest.

- Like Earth, the poles of Mars are covered in ice. The ice becomes thicker in the winter.

- Mars orbits the sun every 687 Earth days.

- The Martian “day” is about half a hour longer than Earth.

- At its brightest, Mars outshines every other planet apart from Venus.

- The thin atmosphere of Mars is made of mostly carbon dioxide.

- A 45kg person would weigh just 17kg on Mars.

- In 1996 NASA, while studying the ALH 84001 meteorite of Martian origin found in Antarctica in 1984, announced that fossilized micro-organisms from Mars might be present in it.

- Valleys and Canyons on Mars suggest that the planet once had large amounts of surface water.

- In winter, nighttime temperatures on Mars can drop as low as -123°C.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.