Mars

Mars is a planet. http://skynet.phys.uniroma1.it/Immagini/mars.jpg

Mars is the 4th planet away from the sun, and mars is a red planet.

http://artlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/solar-system.jpg

science alive 5
 * mars has a red surface due to oxidised iron (rust)
 * scientists believe planets might've once had liquid water
 * there have been huge deposits of ice descoverd

The diameter of mars is 6,794 kilometers Mars probably got its name due to the fact that it is red. Mars sometimes is referred to the red planet. The name of the month March derives from mars

http://seds.org/archive/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html

Mars is about 142 million miles (228 million kilometers) from the sun. Mars is about a 6th of the size of the Earth and has two small moons, the moons names are Phobos Deimos. Mars is very cold because the average temperature is -80 degrees fahrenheit (-27 degrees Celsius). Mars is coverd with rocks, volcanoes, canyons and craters all over but almost all of Mars is covered by red dust.

At the moment three space crafts are orbiting Mars, they are there to measure the temperature and minerals with scientific tools. They are also taking photos to look for water. so far two moving robots called rovers are on the surface of mars. there names are Spirit and opportunity. They roam around taking pictures of the planets soil and rocks. Scientist use these pictures to learn more about mars. In the future NASA plans to send more robots and eventually astronauts, so they can send humans to live there. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/what-is-mars-k4_prt.htm http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/mars-rover-2.jpg