Time to get to know the "Red" Planet a little bit better.

In order to understand the planet you are going to be colonizing it is a good idea to do a
little research comparing the Mars to Earth. Use the links below, (or find your own) to
answer the questions. Post your responses to the Mars/Earth comparison page on your
Weebly.

Mars

Earth

Length of Day (rotation)

24 hours 37 minutes

23 hours 56 minutes

Length of Year (revolution)

687 Earth Days

365.25 days

Distance from Sun

142 million miles

93 million miles

Diameter (Size)

4,220 miles

7,926 miles

Number of Satellites
(moons)

Mostly carbon dioxide,

some water vapor

Nitrogen, oxygen, argon,

others

Composition of Atmosphere

Layers of Atmosphere

Troposphere, mesosphere, Exosphere, troposphere,

exosphere
stratosphere, mesosphere,
thermosphere

Average Temperature of the

Surface (F)

-81 degrees F

57 degrees F

Average Gravitational Pull

(Gravity)

0.375 of Earth

2.66 times that of mars

Tilt of Axis in degrees

(Seasons)

25 degrees

23.5 degrees

Thickness of layers of the

planet

Crust is 30 miles
mantle is 900-1200mi
Core 1800-2400 mi

Crust is 0-100km
Inner core 1216 km
Outer core 2270 km
Mantle 2885 km

Composition of Crust

Basalt and iron oxide

Andesite, basalt, silicic rocks

Possible Natural Resources

Ores, ice

Fertile soil, water, air, forests,

ores

Tectonic Plate Movement

none

some

Volcanic Activity

A lot

some

Links for research:

http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/planets.html
http://nineplanets.org/

Post research questions:

Based on your research, how does Mars compare to the Earth?
Mars and Earth are both inner planets. Mars and Earth both have some interesting features
about their global surface.
How would your life on Mars be different than on Earth?
Mars is much colder than Earth, and Mars has strong winds which create massive dust storms.
Due to this, we would have to live in buildings that can protect us from the severe conditions on
Mars.
How do you plan to adapt to the different length of day and year?
The days are only 40 minutes longer, and the year is twice as much as Earths but will be easy
to adapt to.
Do you think that Mars is capable of sustaining human life?
Yes and no, first of all, with the conditions on Mars you could not survive without protective
buildings and/or conditions. With protective buildings and/or conditions we could survive on
Mars, but it would not be as easy as on Earth.
Which resources do you plan on exploiting when you get there? Make a list;
I am planning to go to the ice caps, which could lead to past evidence of life. The abundance of
rock like basalt could be used for something important. Also, the ores could be useful too.

What will you use them for, be specific?

We will use the ice for water (after filtering the water we will utilize it), and the ores for building
the city.