Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and it’s often called the Red Planet. That red color comes from the iron minerals in its regolith.
It has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes and canyons. It also has a thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon.
Ancient Egyptians
Mars is often linked to ancient Egyptians because of its blood-red hue. It was also associated with war and plague.
The ancient Egyptians were well aware of the movements of the planets. They believed that Mars would slow down and then re-appear in the sky. This phenomenon is known as retrograde motion, and it was believed to have been discovered by Greek mathematician Claudius Ptolemy.
Nevertheless, a large portion of the knowledge about planets in Egypt was lost to history. Only for the later periods do we have preserved texts mentioning the planets in a more detailed way.
These texts are mainly found in the underside of coffin lids or in ceilings of tombs and temple rooms, where they usually appear within a complex composition combining depictions with short labels, normally not more than names and epithets. This composition has been dubbed the “classical Egyptian sky image.”
Ancient Greeks
The ancient Greeks had a deep interest in astronomy. Their cosmology included the sun, moon, and five planets – Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
The Greeks were especially interested in the movement of the planets, since they believed that they had an “unmoved mover” that controlled their motion. This idea was based on the concept of heavenly perfection, which held that all celestial motion must be in perfect circles.
The Greeks were also concerned with time measurement and synchronization of the cycles of the planets and the moon for calendrical purposes. As a result, they used advanced arithmetical techniques to determine the exact time of celestial events such as solar and lunar eclipses.
Ancient Romans
Mars was one of the gods of ancient Rome, and he was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was the god of war and a protector of the Roman army.
He was also a deity of agriculture, and was the lord of the harvest. He was also a significant god of peace, as he was believed to protect the divine right of Rome’s rule and help keep enemies at bay.
As a result, he was regarded as a key part of the Roman gods’ pantheon. He was second only to Jupiter, the god of the sky and thunder.
He was the most important military god of the ancient Romans. He had several festivals in his honor, such as the Feriae Marti, which were held in March, and the Armilustrium, which was held on October 19. These festivals commemorated the start and end of the agricultural and military seasons.
Ancient Babylonians
The ancient Babylonians were one of the most influential cultures in planet history. They developed many advanced math and science techniques. They also had a great influence on astronomy and astrology.
The Babylonians were a Semitic-speaking people who lived in the area between modern-day Syria and Iraq. They spoke a language called Akkadian and used a writing system called cuneiform script.
They were very skilled at art, especially jewelry-making. They created pieces that were unique and beautiful.
In addition to their fine art, the Babylonians were also very talented at building and architecture. They built huge ziggurats and royal palaces.
They also made a lot of beautiful glazed ceramics. They also had a strong tradition of religion and sacrifices. The Babylonians even had a special god, Marduk, who was their patron deity. He was a very powerful god. He was the chief of all the gods and a very important figure in their culture.
Early astronomers
Early astronomers looked at Mars through their primitive telescopes. They saw dark areas on the planet that changed colors as time passed, and they spotted lines on the surface that some people thought were canals made by intelligent life.
However, these features were simply optical illusions, and they weren’t actually a sign of life on Mars.
Another thing that early astronomers noticed was a phenomenon called violet clearings, which are featureless blobs that appear in the Martian sky when viewed through a blue or violet filter. These events usually last a few days, but scientists have no idea what causes them.
Another astronomer, Percival Lowell, believed that he could see a network of artificial canals on Mars. These canals were a source of public interest until they were proven to be an optical illusion.
19th-century astronomers
In the 19th century, astronomy was a new area of study that combined advances in maths, physics and chemistry to understand the composition of heavenly bodies. This was a major step forward in the history of astronomy and helped establish the foundations for modern cosmology.
During the early 19th century, astronomers began to see patterns and markings on the Martian surface. These markings appeared to be connected to features on the surface of Mars such as craters and mountains.
Astronomers began to interpret these markings as canals, or linear structures. These canals were interpreted as evidence of intelligent design, and they fueled an obsession with Mars.
In the late 19th century, a wealthy American astronomer named Percival Lowell believed that there were canals on Mars. He drew this belief into the public eye, presenting these drawings and arguing that they could be an indication of intelligent design.
Early robotic spacecraft
Early robotic spacecraft changed our understanding of the planet. Mars was once seen as a barren, inhospitable planet that could not support life, but later probes have shown us that this is no longer true.
The first robots to successfully land on Mars were Viking 1 and 2. These landers gathered soil samples for analysis and took detailed pictures of the terrain around their landing sites.
Those first probes changed our understanding of the planet, showing that Mars could once have a global magnetic field. Scientists also learned that the red planet is not as hot as previously thought and has a cooler, wetter past.
Today, NASA has several rovers that have explored the Martian surface. Some are still active, including Curiosity, Opportunity and Perseverance. Others are waiting to return home, like China’s Zhurong rover.
Early Mars missions
Early Mars missions were a major turning point in our understanding of the planet. These rovers and orbiters helped us learn what it’s like to walk on the surface of another planet, and they showed how robotic exploration could be done in a more cost-effective manner.
In addition, these spacecraft helped us understand the physics of Mars’s climate and how the planet’s atmosphere changes over time. They also gave us the first close-up images of the red planet’s two moons.
While many of these missions were unsuccessful, they provided a great deal of knowledge about the planet and its history. And they opened the door to future Mars missions.
Sub-glacial lake
A sub-glacial lake is an underground body of water that remains liquid at low temperatures. On Earth, these lakes are found beneath the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland.
They are usually identified by radar sounding – which uses radio waves to measure the relative strength of the echo that reflects back from an ice surface and a bed of liquid water beneath it. The reflected signal can be used to classify a lake as subglacial or non-subglacial (Siegert, 2005; Carter et al., 2007).
These ice-based lakes can drain and refill quickly in response to changes in the thickness of the ice and the rate of water flow. They can also generate a “depression” in the ice surface above them, which can be detected using satellite measurements of ice-surface velocity and slope.
Scientists discovered one of these lakes on Mars in 2018 using onboard radar instrument MARSIS, but it’s not yet known whether the lake is actually filled with liquid or not. Regardless of whether it’s a lake or not, scientists say it could help them understand the planet’s water history.