Friday Fun Facts About Mars

Friday Fun Facts About Mars

Gigantic water falls may once have plunged over these cliffs on to the valley floor. The remarkably smooth valley floor was later flooded by basaltic lava. (Photo by ESA via Getty Images)

Ever since Orson Wells scared the entire USA with the 1933 radio broadcast, War of the Worlds, we have feared a visit from “little green men from the Red Planet.”

We have been sending exploratory spacecraft to Mars for many years and our knowledge of our neighbor is growing.

Here are some things you might not know about Mars.

Fun Facts About Mars

  • Would you like to help colonize Mars? It’s a long line. Over 100,000 people have applied for a one-way trip planned in 2022.
  • If you go to Mars you will have to give up our beautiful red and golden sunsets in favor of the blue ones on Mars.
  • Your life span might be shorter on Mars. A year takes 687 earth days. On the plus side you’ll have over 57 days to pay the monthly bills.
  • NASA’s Curiosity Rover sang Happy Birthday to itself after it’s first year on Mars.
  • Think Mt. Everest is high. Mars has the tallest mountain in the Solar System standing about 14 miles high and it’s not a peak — it’s plateau shaped.
  • Current population of Mars? Seven. Comprised of robots we’ve sent to explore the planet.
  • Why is Mars red? Poor maintenance. It’s covered with rust or iron oxide.
  • A Mars expedition from India cost less than the movie Gravity.
  • Montanans would feel right at home on Mars. The average temperature is 81 below zero. A light wind chill to us.
  • Don’t open a Jenny Craig franchise on Mars. Your clients will weight 60 percent less there.
  • Get Mars real estate while you can. It’s about half the size of earth.
  • Where is Scalia when you need him? Three men from Yemen claimed their ancestors had claimed Mars 3,000 years ago and tried to sue NASA in court in 1997 to collect their inheritance.
  • If not for the pesky 81 below zero temperature, the soil on Mars would probably be great for growing asparagus.
  • If you would like to check out the surface of Mars up close and personal go to google.com/Mars.
  • Mars has two moons. Wonder what that will do to the tides and horoscopes?
  • Is it possible to create global warming on Mars? Scientists think they can. Maybe earth is a test case.

Some Final Thoughts

Scientists think that Mars had an oxygen rich atmosphere around 4 billion years ago. Maybe that explains the rust.

Mars is also one of five planets that can be seen from earth with the naked eye. Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are the others.

So would you go to Mars if you had the chance?

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Filed Under: AM 1340 KPRK, AM 1450 KMMS, asparagus, Belgrade, bozeman, Curiosity Rover, earth, gravity, Horoscopes, jenny craig, jupiter, Livingston, Mars, montana, Mt. Everest, nasa, orsen wells, saturn, Scalia, scientists, tom egelhoff, venus, war of the worlds
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