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At least two-thirds of Mars' surface is more than 3.5 billion years old, and it could have been habitable 4.48 billion years ago, 500 million years before the earliest known Earth lifeforms; [4] Mars may thus hold the best record of the prebiotic conditions leading to life, even if life does not or has never existed there. [5] [6]
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been used to perform systematic studies of Mars [91] and has taken the highest resolution images of Mars ever captured from Earth. [92] This telescope can produce useful images of the planet when it is at an angular distance of at least 50° from the Sun.
The solar day (or sol) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. [185] A Martian year is equal to 1.8809 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2 hours. [2] The gravitational potential difference and thus the delta-v needed to transfer between Mars and Earth is the second lowest for Earth ...
A mineral grain from a meteorite preserved evidence that water was present on Mars 4.45 billion years ago, and it may have created hot springs habitable for life. ‘Black Beauty’ was found on ...
Researchers have uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of hot water activity on Mars, suggesting the red planet could have supported life billions of years ago.. Scientists at Australia ...
Conditions on Mars during its first billion years were dramatically different from the present day. Whether or not the conditions were once habitable depends largely on the volatile content, specifically water (H 2 O) and carbon dioxide (CO 2), of the surface.
Aside from Earth, no planets in the solar system are known to harbor life. Mars, Europa, and Titan are considered to have once had or currently have conditions permitting the existence of life. Multiple rovers have been sent to Mars, while Europa Clipper is planned to reach Europa in 2030, and the Dragonfly space probe is planned to launch in 2027.
Mars has an axial tilt of 25.19°, similar to Earth's 23.44°. As a result, Mars has seasons much like Earth, though on average they last nearly twice as long because the Martian year is about 1.88 Earth years. Mars' temperature regime is more similar to Earth's than to any other planet's in the solar system.