An Introduction to Mars

Mars - Rotating Model

Credit: Almond/NASA

Sometimes called "the Red Planet", it gets its colour from its red rocks and soil.

It was once though to have "canals" on it, but this was an optical illusion (the brain making the eye see something that isn't really there).

The surface changes from winter to summer. This was thought to be evidence for plants and other life, but is now known to be enormous dust storms that cover most of the planet.

Many spacecraft have been sent to Mars and some, like the Mars Rover missions in 2003, have even landed on the surface, making it the most well known planet in the Solar System other than the Earth itself!

It has two small moons called Phobos and Deimos