Mars is colored red by iron compounds such as ferric oxide (Fe20C), and it’s commonly known on Earth as rust. Blinding dust storms can seriously ruin plans for a landing on Mars.

Mars has an average surface temperature of -63 degrees Celcius! There is a cycle of seasons - winter, spring, summer, and fall - just like Earth. Mars’ atmosphere is thinner than Earth's.

Some features can be volcanoes, river beds, cratered terrain, and others. Mars has two main icecaps the North Pole and the South Pole. The South Pole is stormier and the temperature gets below 125 degrees Celsius. The North Pole is made up of ice water, but the South Pole is made up of CO2. The South Pole receives a lot of snow. The north ice cap is bigger than the south’s.

The planet seems to have had large amounts of water millions of years ago.