10 Amazing Facts About the Planet Mars

1. A project to colonize Mars, beginning in 2022, had an open application policy

The one-way adventure had over 100,000 applications.

“It might be helpful to realize that very probably the parents of the first native born Martians are alive today.” —Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt (Apollo 17)

2. Mapping Mars

There are better maps for the surface of mars than there are for the floors of our oceans.

“Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to the shimmering red presence in the clear night sky.”—John Noble Wilford

3. Deimos

Mars's smallest moon, Deimos, has an escape velocity of five-point-six meters per second.

“The first human beings to land on Mars should not come back to Earth. They should be the beginning of a build-up of a colony/settlement, I call it a ‘permanence.'"—Buzz Aldrin

4. Jump

You could take a running jump to launch off its surface.

“Mars is there, waiting to be reached.”—Buzz Aldrin

5. Ownership

Three Yemeni men sued NASA for trespassing on Mars. On the ground, they claimed the planet from their ancestors, over 3,000 years ago.

“President Bush announced that we were landing on Mars today… which means he’s given up on Earth.”—Jon Stewart (The Daily Show)

6. Zambien Space Program

In the 1960s, Zambia had a space program. They planned to use a giant catapult to hurl an aluminum rocket to Mars.

“Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”—John Gray

7. Olympus

The tallest mountain in the solar system stands at 14 miles high, on Mars.

“We are all… children of this universe. Not just Earth, or Mars, or this system, but the whole grand fireworks. And if we are interested in Mars at all, it is only because we wonder over our past and worry terribly about our possible future.”—Ray Bradbury

8. The Red Planet

Mars is believed to have its colour because it is essentially covered in rust. This is caused by the large percentage of iron on the planet.

“Some day people will travel to Mars. It will be a long trip, but fun. This will be a big step for mankind. We would be able to find out if there was life on this planet. It probably will look like a red desert.”—J. Stephen Hartsfield (Seventh Grader, 1984)

9. Mars Rocks

Several meteorites found in Antartica and the Sahara dessert were later confirmed to be from Mars. It is assumed that an asteroid impact to Mars is what is launched them from Earth.

I’m surprised to see people get so wildly excited about a possible bacterium on Mars when our own planet is crawling with undiscovered species."—George Schaller (Awake! Magazine, 1998)

10. Guzman Prize

In 1900, a 100,000 Franc Prize was offered to anyone who could communicate with alien life... but Mars was exempt, because it wasn't considered a challenge to communicate with Martians.

"I would not see our candle blown out in the wind. It is a small thing, this dear gift of life handed us mysteriously out of immensity. I would not have that gift expire… If I seem to be beating a dead horse again and again, I must protest: No! I am beating, again and again, living man to keep him awake and move his limbs and jump his mind… What’s the use of looking at Mars through a telescope, sitting on panels, writing books, if it isn’t to guarantee, not just the survival of mankind, but mankind surviving forever!”—Ray Bradbury (Mars and the Mind of Man, 1971)

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Work Cited

Alltime10s. “10 Amazing Facts About The Planet Mars.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Aug. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=f__qNnj65Ts.

Anton. “11 Most Famous Mars Quotes and Sayings to Ponder.” Spacequotations.com, 20 Feb. 2019, spacequotations.com/quotes-about-mars/.

CNN, Cable News Network, edition.cnn.com/TECH/9707/24/yemen.mars/.

“Mars.” CNN, Cable News Network, www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/us/mars/index.html.

“Mars, We Are The Martians: Start Up Planet.” BBC Radio 4, BBC, 8 Mar. 2017, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04w60rx.

“NASA.” www.nasa.gov/.