Mars Surface
With so many past and present missions to sent to Mars, scientists understand Mars’ surface better than any other planet in the Solar System (other than Earth, of course).
Mars is actually quite a small world. It has a radius of less than half the Earth, and about one-tenth the mass. Its total surface area is about 28% the size of Earth. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually almost exactly the same amount as the dry land on Earth. So there’s a lot room to explore on Mars.
The surface of Mars seems to be mostly basalt, covered by a fine layer of iron oxide dust that has the consistency of talcum powder. It’s this iron oxide dust that gives Mars its red color.
The planet has no surface liquid water, so it’s very similar to the driest deserts on Earth. If you could stand on the surface of Mars, you would see rocks and boulders strewn about in all directions, covered by this red dust.
There are some unique features on the surface of Mars, like the giant shield volcano, Olympus Mons, which towers 27 km above the surrounding plains. And there are three other shield volcanoes which are almost as large. And then there’s the enormous Valles Marineris trench, which cuts a 7 km deep scar across 4,000 km of the Martian equator.
There are many processes on Earth that wear away features over time: rain, wind and even plate tectonics. There’s nothing like that on Mars. This means that the Mars surface is dotted with craters large and small. Without a thick atmosphere, even small space rocks can impact the surface of the planet.
How seasonal jets darken the surface of Mars, and how ice depth varies across Mars.
Want to explore the surface of Mars, check it out with Google Mars. Here is some more information about surface features on Mars.
Finally, if you’d like to learn more about Mars in general, we have done several podcast episodes about the Red Planet at Astronomy Cast. Episode 52: Mars, and Episode 91: The Search for Water on Mars.