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Mars is the planet of outward activity and animal passion. It rules Aries and is exalted in Capricorn. This fiery planet is masculine in action, versus softer more receptive Venus. When strong in the chart it can indicate a volatile temper, and also great courage. Its position indicates how your personality will assert itself, and what modes of activity will stimulate your physical energies.
Though details of Mars' surface are difficult to see from Earth, telescope observations show seasonally changing features and white patches at the poles. For decades, people speculated that bright and dark areas on Mars were patches of vegetation, and that Mars could be a likely place for life-forms, and that water might exist in the polar caps. When the Mariner 4 spacecraft flew by Mars in 1965, many were shocked to see photographs of a bleak, cratered surface. Mars seemed to be a dead planet. Later missions, however, have shown that Mars is a complex member of the solar system and holds many mysteries yet to be solved. Mars is a rocky body about half the size of Earth. As with the other terrestrial planets -Mercury, Venus, and Earth - the surface of Mars has been altered by volcanism, impacts, crustal movement, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms
| Planet | Mass (10x24 kg) | Volume (10x10 km3 | Equatorial radius (km) | Polar radius (km) | Mean density (kg/m3) | Surface gravity (m/s2) | Surface acceleration (m/s2) | Escape velocity (km/s) |
| Mars | 0.64185 | 16.318 | 3396.2 | 3376.2 | 3933 | 3.71 | 3.69 | 5.03 |
| Earth | 5.9736 | 108.321 | 6378.1 | 6356.8 | 5515 | 9.80 | 9.78 | 11.2 |
| Name | Orbital Period | Sidereal rotation |
| Mars | 687 Days | 24,62 hours |
Discoverer: Unknown
Discovery Date: Prehistoric
Distance from Earth Minimum (10x6 km) 55.7
Maximum (10x6 km) 401.3
Apparent diameter from Earth
Maximum (seconds of arc) 25.1
Minimum (seconds of arc) 3.5
Mean values at opposition from Earth
Distance from Earth (10x6 km) 78.39
Apparent diameter (seconds of arc) 17.9
Apparent visual magnitude -2.0
Maximum apparent visual magnitude -2.91
Surface pressure: 6.36 mb at mean radius (variable from 4.0 to 8.7 mb depending on season)
[6.9 mb to 9 mb (Viking 1 Lander site)]
Surface density: ~0.020 kg/m3 Scale height: 11.1 km
Total mass of atmosphere: ~2.5 x 1016 kg
Average temperature: ~210 K (-63 C)
Diurnal temperature range: 184 K to 242 K (-89 to -31 C)
(Viking 1 Lander site)
Wind speeds: 2-7 m/s (summer), 5-10 m/s (fall),17-30 m/s (dust storm)
(Viking Lander sites) Mean molecular weight: 43.34 g/mole
Atmospheric composition (by volume):
Major
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - 95.32%
Nitrogen (N2) - 2.7%
Argon (Ar) - 1.6%
Oxygen (O2) - 0.13%
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 0.08%
Minor (ppm)
Water (H2O) - 210
Nitrogen Oxide (NO) - 100
Neon (Ne) - 2.5
Hydrogen-Deuterium-Oxygen (HDO) - 0.85
Krypton (Kr) - 0.3
Xenon (Xe) - 0.08
Technical Information courtesy of Nasa
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