MARS

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is commonly referred to as the Red Planet. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun,orbiting at about 228 million km. The rocks, soil and sky have a red or pink hue.Mars nearly takes 687 days to orbit the Sun. The distinct red color was observed by stargazers throughout history. It was given its name by the Romans in honor of their god of war.Barometric pressure varies at each landing site on a semiannual basis. Carbon dioxide, the major constituent of the atmosphere, freezes out to form an immense polar cap, alternately at each pole. The carbon dioxide forms a great cover of snow and then evaporates again with the coming of spring in each hemisphere. When the southern cap was largest, the mean daily pressure observed by Viking Lander 1 was as low as 6.8 millibars; at other times of the year it was as high as 9.0 millibars. The pressures at the Viking Lander 2 site were 7.3 and 10.8 millibars. In comparison, the average pressure of the Earth is 1000 millibars. Other civilizations have had similar names.

Each of the Viking landers carried a series of science packages which included a weather station, a seismometer, a chemical analysis package, two cameras, a soil composition package, and a biological experiment package. Within minutes of lander 1's touch down, the first picture was taken in case something happened to the spacecraft. This picture showed what looked like a sandy, dusty surface with rocks up to 10 cm in diameter.There are small amount of liquid.