Welcome back to my space article! If you haven’t seen my first articles about Earth, Mercury, and Venus, go and check ’em out! Since we’ve already gone over Earth, we can go straight to Mars!
Potential for Life
Scientists don’t think that there is life on Mars now, but they have a theory that Mars was covered by water at some point. Since life can fossilize, scientists are sending rovers to Mars to try and find that “dead life”. All of those rovers make Mars the most explored planet in the solar system. Water, on the other hand, is still on Mars in the form of water-ice just under the surface in the polar regions (it’s the white stuff on the top and bottom of Mars in the picture). Occasionally it melts, flowing down the cliffs.
Surface Structure
Mars gets its red color from the iron in the rocks, which is slowly rusting. One of the most noticeable features of Mars is Valles Marineris, which is a huge canyon. It can easily stretch from California to New York! It’s also about 10 times the size of our Earth’s Grand Canyon. Mars also has the largest volcano in the Solar System, named Olympus Mons. It’s three times taller than Mt. Everest, approximately 72,000 ft (13.6 miles, 22.9 km), compared to 29,029 ft (5.5 miles, 8.8 km). This means that Olympus Mons rises higher than a commercial airplane!
Colonizing Mars!?
Scientists have been looking at expanding the human race throughout the universe for quite some time. But, now that we have advanced science, the money, the resources, and the drive to do so, we finally can! Most people are looking at the moon, since that’s only a three day trip from Earth. But the next option is Mars! And yet, there are still many problems left. The treacherous terrain, the thin atmosphere (a thin atmosphere means that harmful solar radiation can reach the surface), and so much more. But hey, if you’re in Kindergarten right now, you may live to see that day when we finally make it!
Link to sources:
Climbing Olympus Mons: The Tallest Mountain in the Solar System | Ultimate Kilimanjaro
Ellyn H. • Dec 11, 2025 at 11:57 am
good job kathryn!
Griffen S. • Dec 11, 2025 at 11:45 am
Very nice!