[For Seniors] Enjoy Learning the Wonders of Mars! Trivia Quiz & Fun Facts to Exercise Your Brain

It's very dry and there's almost no air.

Mars is very dry, the air is thin, and the temperature is very low. There may have been water in the past, but now it is a harsh environment for living things.

the fourth

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Since Earth is the third, Mars is just outside Earth. In the night sky, it appears to shine red.

about 24 hours

The length of a day on Mars is very close to that on Earth—about 24 hours and 39 minutes. Since a day on Earth is about 24 hours, a Martian day is roughly 39 minutes longer.

It's very cold.

The temperature on Mars is much colder than on Earth. The average temperature is around minus 60 degrees, and it gets even colder in winter. This is because Mars has a thin atmosphere that cannot retain much of the Sun’s heat. As a result, the Martian environment is very harsh, and special preparations are necessary for people to live there.

reddish

The sky on Mars has a reddish color. This is because fine red dust is floating throughout Mars’s atmosphere. When sunlight hits this dust, the entire sky appears orange or reddish-brown. The reason it differs from Earth’s blue sky is that the composition of the air and the way light scatters are different.

water

It is believed that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. This is because landforms resembling the traces of rivers and lakes have been found. Although it is now very cold and dry with very little water, the presence of water in the past raises hopes that life may once have been able to exist there.

about 0.38x

Mars’s gravity is about one-third of Earth’s (0.38 times). This means your body feels lighter on Mars than on Earth. For example, a person who weighs 60 kilograms on Earth would feel like about 20 kilograms on Mars. This lightness is one of the major characteristics when humans go to Mars.