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Mars comes closer to Earth more than any other planet save Venus at its nearest—56 million km is the closest distance between Mars and Earth, whereas the closest Venus comes to Earth is 40 million km. Mars comes closest to Earth every other year, around the time of its opposition, when Earth is sweeping between the Sun and Mars. Extra-close ...
Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth's volume and 11% of Earth's mass, resulting in about 38% of Earth's surface gravity. Mars is the only presently known example of a desert planet , a rocky planet with a surface akin to that of Earth's hot deserts.
The satellites of Mars include : Non functional but (probably) orbiting: Viking 1 & 2 orbiter; Mariner 9; Mars Global Surveyor; Mars 2, 3, 5; Phobos 2;
A simulation of a 4-satellite constellation in areostationary orbit . An areostationary orbit, areosynchronous equatorial orbit (AEO), or Mars geostationary orbit is a circular areosynchronous orbit (ASO) approximately 17,032 km (10,583 mi) in altitude above the Mars equator and following the direction of Mars's rotation.
Asteroid (706765) 2010 TK 7 is the first discovered tadpole orbit companion to Earth, orbiting L 4; like Earth, its mean distance to the Sun is about one astronomical unit. Asteroid (614689) 2020 XL 5 is the second Earth trojan, confirmed in November 2021, oscillating around L 4 in a tadpole orbit and expected to remain there for at least 4000 ...
Artist's rendition of Mars Express as seen by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Image of Mars Express in orbit at Mars. 2001 Mars Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket and currently holds the record for the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth at 23 years, 3 months and 28 days.
The instrument can accurately map Mars albedo at 1.65 um. [62] [63] MSM design flaw: The MSM sensor was expected to measure methane in the Mars atmosphere; methane on Earth is often associated with life. However, after it entered orbit, it was reported that there was an issue with how it collected and processed data.
The motion and long distances between planets: The interplanetary communication is greatly delayed due to the interplanetary distances and the motion of the planets. The delay is variable and long, ranging from a couple of minutes (Earth-to-Mars), to a couple of hours (Pluto-to-Earth), depending on their relative positions.