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The probability of any human ever being able to live on the planet Mars is slim to none, at least not in our lifetime. However, it is fun to take your imagination on a vacation for one whole year to the planet Mars. Forget for one moment that one cannot step foot on Mars due to the lack of oxygen, unbearable temperatures, and impossible atmosphere, and take a look at what would be seen throughout an entire year on the planet Mars. Before the year on Mars begins, it should be known that it would not be the same 365-day year as it is on Earth. Because Mars is further from the sun than Earth, it’s orbital period and year is longer. One year on the planet Mars consists of 687 days. Not only is there many more days in a year, but each day has an extra thirty-seven minutes. The orbit of Mars is highly elliptical compared to that of Earth’s, which is nearly circular. Because of the extreme elliptical orbit of Mars the seasons on Mars are of unequal duration. Southern summer is 150 Martian days and southern winter is 180 Martian days. The closest point to the sun in Mars’ orbit, which is known as the perihelion, is located in the southern hemisphere. This makes the southern summer not only have a shorter duration, but receive a great deal more sunlight. Scientists believe that, aside from size, Mars and Earth were pretty similar when they were first created. Because Mars is quite a bit smaller than Earth, with a mass of around 1/10 of the size and a diameter of nearly half, it was able to cool much more quickly compared to the much slower cooling time of Earth. Like Earth, Mars used all of it’s carbon dioxide to form carbonate rocks, but unfortunately Mars was unable to develop the plate tectonics that Earth was and therefore cannot recycle any of the carbon dioxide back into it’s atmosphere which means that a sufficient greenhouse effect cannot take place. Without a decent greenhouse effect Mars is much colder than what the earth would be at that distance from the sun. The temperatures on Mars range from extremely cold to a high of nearly 77 degrees F. The average temperature is –63 degrees F. That is around 120 degrees colder than Earth. Because of it’s very thin atmosphere the surface of Mars stays at a nice, cool 70 degrees, but because the thin atmosphere is a poor hear retainer it quickly rises to temperatures well above freezing.
Approximate Word count = 1655
Approximate Pages = 6.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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