Mars is not a very nice god. He revels in death, destruction, and bloodshed, and kills for the sheer pleasure of it. Born of Zeus and Hera, he was known to the Greeks as Ares. Because of his cruel obsessions, he was disowned by his parents and shunned by all the gods except his sister Eris (goddess of discord), and Hades (god of the dead). Venus (goddess of love), perversely attracted to his brutal masculinity, became his lover for a time, and gave birth to his sons Deimos (terror) and Phobos (fear). Mars also had two sons with the Vestal Virgin Rhea, whom he raped. They were the twins Romulus and Remus, who went on to found Rome. Mars travels the sky in a battle rigged chariot, drawn by the war horses Fire and Flame.

Mars is appropriately named because of its distinctively ruddy red hue - the colour of dried blood - caused by the abundance of iron oxide in its soil. Since the oxidation of iron requires oxygen, usually in the form of water or atmospheric gases, of which Mars presently has only trace amounts, there has been much speculation about Mars being a very different place in the past, possibly covered with water, or blanketed with a thick, oxygen rich atmosphere, and if that was the case, where did all the oxygen go?

Mars is our next door neighbour, its elliptical orbit sometimes bringing it within only 36 million miles from Earth. It is the fourth planet from the Sun, the last of the four solid, rocky planets of the inner solar system. Beyond Mars lies the debris field of the asteroid belt, and beyond that, far out in the cold depths of the outer solar system, lie the mighty gas giants. Photo below by Hubble Space Telescope.

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After our Moon, Mars is the next logical place for humans to visit in person. Venus, our next door neighbour on the other side, is much too hostile, as is little Mercury right beside the Sun, and all the other planets and moons are much too cold, and alien, and far away. Mars itself, although considered close compared with most of the other planets, is still very far away. If it were possible to travel to Mars in a spacecraft similar to the Space Shuttle, which travels at 17,580 mph, and it was carefully planned to arrive at Mars when it was closest to Earth, the journey would still take over four months.

In the meantime we send unmanned spacecraft to Mars; and we've sent quite a few. Beginning in 1960, the old Soviet Union sent no less than seventeen, although only six actually completed the journey. NASA has had slightly better luck, only losing five Mars spacecraft over the years, and completing eleven successful missions. The amazing photo below was taken by NASA's Viking lander, in 1976.

Our next door neighbour Mars has become a busy place, with several spacecraft orbiting the planet, and robotic rovers exploring the surface. Below is an image taken at a height of approximately 1500 miles, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which arrived at Mars in April, 2006.

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Below is a true colour image of Victoria Crater, captured by NASA's robotic rover Opportunity.

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Caves On Mars?

High on the slopes of an old volcano called Arsia Mons, scientists have discovered seven strangely circular holes that appear to lead deep into the interior of Mars. Dubbed the seven sisters, the holes emit temperatures significantly different than the surrounding terrain, causing scientists to believe they are openings - like skylights - into large subsurface caverns or caves. The photos below were taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit around the red planet.

The mysterious holes have been named Dena (A), Chloe (B), Wendy (C), Annie (D), Abby (E1), Nikki (E2), and Jeanne (F). Below is a close-up of Wendy.

Speculation is running high as to the possibility of the protected, underground "caves" at the bottom of these holes being habitats for some form of Martian life! At the very least, they offer the potential to become habitats for the first humans who will be visiting Mars in the near future.

Why are we spending so much effort on Mars? Because it is the new New World. It is the next stop in the journey of the Human species. In many ways it may be the final hope for our species. Even if we learn how to take care of our own planet properly, and manage to curb pollution and global warming, Earth is a finite space, and sooner or later, we will run out of room. And with present population trends, it may be sooner rather than later. Just ask anyone living in Japan, or India.

And then there's the wild card: the possibility of finding life on Mars! That would change everything. If evidence of past or present life was discovered on Mars, life on Earth would never be the same again.

Mars is only half the size of Earth, with a diameter of 4,242 miles (6,787 kms). It has a very thin atmosphere, only about one hundredth that of Earth - enough to create dust storms, and sparse, diaphanous clouds, but not enough to protect the planet from meteorites or the deadly radiation of the sun. It is also not enough to generate any appreciable greenhouse effect, so the temperature on Mars never quite gets above freezing, ranging from -87 ° C (-125 ° F) to -5 ° C (23 ° F). It is an atmosphere composed of 95% Carbon Dioxide, 3% Nitrogen, and 2% Argon with trace amounts of other gases.

Like Earth, Mars is tilted on its axis (25.19 degrees), so that it has distinct seasons, and polar ice caps that change with the seasons. It also has a day that is almost exactly the same as Earth: 24.62 hours. Its year however, is twice as long, 687 days, and its gravity only about a third. If you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you'd weigh 38 pounds on Mars.

Mars has two small, irregular shaped moons, named after its mythological sons: Deimos (terror) and Phobos (fear). Most likely captured asteroids, Deimos is only 9 miles (16 kms) in diameter, and Phobos only 16 miles (27 kms) in diameter.

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