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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology ; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004.
The thin atmosphere allows Mars to radiate heat energy away more easily, so temperatures near the equator can get up to 21 °C (70 °F) during a summer day, and then drop down to −73 °C (−99 °F) at night. [10] Subsurface conditions on Mars are dramatically more benign than those on the surface, which lead researchers to believe that if ...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron(III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red Planet". [22] [23] Mars is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, and its high-contrast albedo features have made it a common subject for telescope viewing.
The study of surface characteristics (or surface properties and processes [1]) is a broad category of Mars science that examines the nature of the materials making up the Martian surface. The study evolved from telescopic and remote-sensing techniques developed by astronomers to study planetary surfaces.
Mars isn’t the only planet to keep an eye out for this month. Sky-gazers can look forward to catching glimpses of four bright planets at the same time in the night sky.
Based on these measurements, for a round trip Mars surface mission with 180 days (each way) cruise, and 500 days on the Martian surface for this current solar cycle, an astronaut would be exposed to a total mission dose equivalent of ~1.01 sievert. Exposure to 1 sievert is associated with a 5 percent increase in risk for developing fatal cancer.
The Sun as seen from Mars appears to be 5 ⁄ 8 the angular diameter as seen from Earth (0.35°), and sends 40% of the light, approximately the brightness of a slightly cloudy afternoon on Earth. On June 3, 2014, the Curiosity rover on Mars observed the planet Mercury transiting the Sun, marking the first time a planetary transit has been ...
Scientists have never recorded an active volcano eruption on the surface of Mars. [65] Searches for thermal signatures and surface changes within the last decade have not yielded evidence for active volcanism. [66] On October 17, 2012, the Curiosity rover on the planet Mars at "Rocknest" performed the first X-ray diffraction analysis of Martian ...