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The minimum distance between Earth and Mars has been declining over the years, and in 2003 the minimum distance was 55.76 million km, nearer than any such encounter in almost 60,000 years (57,617 BC). The record minimum distance between Earth and Mars in 2729 will stand at 55.65 million km.
Mars's average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (143 million mi), and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol ) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. [ 185 ]
In The Martian, by Andy Weir, the spaceship Hermes uses a constant thrust ion engine to transport astronauts between Earth and Mars. In Project Hail Mary , also by Weir , the protagonist's spaceship uses a constant 1.5 g acceleration spin drive to travel between the Solar System , Tau Ceti and 40 Eridani .
Relatively early in its history, Mars lost its magnetic field, which allowed the solar wind to claw away most of its atmosphere; with that, much of the water sublimed into space.
Curiosity is a car-sized Mars rover exploring Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. [2] Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral (CCAFS) on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17:57 UTC.
Deimos (/ ˈ d aɪ m ə s /; systematic designation: Mars II) [11] is the smaller and outer of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Phobos. Deimos has a mean radius of 6.2 km (3.9 mi) and takes 30.3 hours to orbit Mars. [5] Deimos is 23,460 km (14,580 mi) from Mars, much farther than Mars's other moon, Phobos. [12]
While astronomers say it’s not a “perihelic opposition,” which happens every 15-17 years and only occurs when Mars is at its closest to Earth while also reaching the closest point to the sun ...
Mars Global Surveyor imaged the Earth and Moon on May 8, 2003, 13:00 UTC, very close to maximum angular elongation from the Sun and at a distance of 0.930 AU from Mars. The apparent magnitudes were given as −2.5 and +0.9. [8] At different times the actual magnitudes will vary considerably depending on distance and the phases of the Earth and ...