3mars

=mars =

 == This uneveness drives Mars's yearly cycle of varbon dioxide feezing and sublimation. For Mars there are only arelative handful or martian meteorites. In the future space missions may achieves sample return form Mars. Mars was explored in flybys by mariner 4, 6 and 7 in the 1460s. ==

The Comparison of Mars and the Sun



Currently Mars is 1.65 AU from the Sun.Its winters occur when Mars is far form the Sun. Its summers occur when Mars is done to the Sun.Comparison is shown between the red supergiant Antares and the Sun, shown as the tiny dot toward the upper right. The black circle is the size of the orbit of Mars. Arcturus is also included in the picture for size comparison. The Sun is 865,000 miles wide. Arcturus, a bright orange star seen high in the south on summer evenings, is 12.4 million miles wide. Antares is 186.4 million miles across. The bright red star Betelgeuse, which is found in the winter constellation Orion, beats them all at about 300 million miles. Earth is not quite 8,000 miles wide.

Mars Global Surveyon Space Craft



This picture is one of many taken in the northern latitudes of Mars by the Viking 1 Orbiter in search of a landing site for Viking 2. The Image of Mars take by the Mars Global surveyon space craft. Elevation of Martian surface form Mars Global surveyon. MGS Image of the South-Polar cap of Mars in summmer.

The picture shows eroded mesa-like landforms. The huge rock formation in the center, which resembles a human head, is formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth. The feature is 1.5 kilometers one mile across, with the sun angle at approximately 20 degrees.

It is an intriguing image, and certainly does look like a face. In fact, since then, this "face" on Mars has inspired a whole library of books and groups of true believers that now find "evidence" of a "Pyramid" and an "Inca City" as well --all, of course, photographed by Viking but covered up by NASA officials.

There is the Viking photograph, taken in 1976 and the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) photographs taken about 25 years later.

MARS ANOMALY

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Mars Nozomi



Nozomi was Canada's first involvement in a mission to another planet and marked the beginning of a new era for Canadian space exploration. There was a Canadian instrument aboard this Japanese satellite, launched on July 3, 1998: the Thermal Plasma Analyser (TPA), whose mission was to study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. The satellite had a difficult journey and a number of unforeseen occurrences; on December 10, 2003, Japanese officials announced that they had been unable to place Nozomi in orbit around Mars. Despite the cancellation of the mission, significant advances have been made thanks to the data that were gathered as the satellite made its way toward Mars. In addition, the TPA technology can also be used to study other planetary atmospheres, like that of Venus and Earth.

WEB LINKS

[|WWW.Planetmars.com] [|WWW.Marsexploration.com] [|WWW.Planetary.org/explorer/]

 A YEAR IS THE TIME IT TAKES TO MAKE ONE ORBIT AROUND THE SUN



Because Mars is farther away from the sun, it has to travel a greater distance around the sun. It takes Mars about twice as long as it does for Earth to make one circle around the sun. Therefore, a year on Mars lasts twice as long.

THE GRAPING OF THE MARS SURFACE



The Mars Reference Mission described in NASA Special Publication 6107, as modified by the updates described in the this addendum, provides a general framework for the human exploration of Mars. Since the original framing of the Reference Mission, other approaches have been brought forward as potential mission and technology options. These approaches, currently being analyzed by the Exploration Team, seem to be promising alternatives for accomplishing the primary objectives set forth in the original mission plan. The major mission alternatives currently under investigation include:

An approach for capturing the inflated TransHab into Mars orbit

COMPARISON OF MARS' APPARENT SIZES

The least favorite opposition, called an unfavorable opposition, is when Mars is at aphelion. Aphelion is the point in a planet's orbit when it is farthest from the Sun. Like Mars, Earth's orbit is not circular, but it is only about one-sixth as elliptical as Mars' orbit.


 * Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about the red planet **



The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flew into orbit around Mars on March 10, 2006. From the successful insertion of Mariner 9 into Mars orbit in 1971 through MRO in 2006, the U.S. now is 6-2 on orbital insertions at Mars.