Mars is the 4th planet in our solar system and the one most similar to Earth. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance. Most of the historical names for Mar relate to fire, it's reddness red or war.

Mars can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude reaches as much as −2.9, a brightness surpassed only by Venus, the Moon, and the Sun, though most of the time Jupiter will appear brighter to the naked eye than Mars.


Mars’ has 2 small moons and only a bit over a third of Earths' gravity. The year is twice as long, but the day is nearly the same and the seasonal cycle is similar to those of Earth.

Surface features are a mixture of those of the Moon caused mainly by impact craters; and Earth like features, such as volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.

Perhaps the major differences is the atmoshere and climate. Mars has a very thin atmosphere, only about 1% that of Earths, and is made up mostly of CO2. You certainly can't breath it. It is much colder than Earth. Because it's so cold and at a low pressure there is no free running surface water. You could think of surface conditions as like Antarctica without any air! Doesn't sound very hospitible does it!

Current Position: http://rebelmars.org/node/160
Historical Timeline: http://rebelmars.org/node/10