Welcome earthlings, to the Mars Rover Project. It is my purpose to create an interest and enthusiasm in the exploration of Mars, especially in the younger visitors. The world’s elementary school year olds will most likely be the first people to ever step foot on Mars, which is a goal of NASA. The Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER) and it’s incredible success, as well its ability to provide the science needed to fulfill the overall Mars Exploration goals will be the focus of the Mars Rover Project. 
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and our nearest neighbor. It has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Its radius is half that of Earth and has a surface area that almost equals Earths dry land area. It can be a very cold and inhospitable planet. The temperature can be lower than -100 F in the winter and above +50 F in the summer. Mars lost its magnetosphere approximately 4 billion years ago and has a thin atmosphere that allows harmful UV radiation to bombard the surface. Mars hosts the tallest known volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons as well as the deepest known canyon, Valles Marineris. Find out more about Mars at WorldBook at NASA.
Mars has been a difficult planet to understand. It has challenged the minds of scientists since Michael Maestlin first recorded its occultation in October of 1590. Galileo first observed it through a telescope in 1609. It is only now, through detailed studies of the surface, that Mars is beginning to reveal its mysteries.
NASA's Mars Exploration Program today is an extensive undertaking that continues to push scientists and engineers to new levels. Interplanetary exploration is in no way an easy or routine event. It is a very expensive and dangerous undertaking. Approximately two thirds of all missions to Mars have ended in failure. However, even the failures contribute to lessons learned. Each new mission being designed and built around the lessons learned in previous missions. The goal? To find out whether Mars was ever capable of harboring life, or if life forms can exist there today.
While modern science has been able to disprove most notions of any highly developed life forms, including ruins of large structures and canals built by ancient civilizations, they have yet to disprove the absence of life. In fact, many scientists believe life could have existed on Mars in the past, and may continue to exist today. Is there life on Mars? That is the defining question for Mars Exploration today.
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and our nearest neighbor. It has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Its radius is half that of Earth and has a surface area that almost equals Earths dry land area. It can be a very cold and inhospitable planet. The temperature can be lower than -100 F in the winter and above +50 F in the summer. Mars lost its magnetosphere approximately 4 billion years ago and has a thin atmosphere that allows harmful UV radiation to bombard the surface. Mars hosts the tallest known volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons as well as the deepest known canyon, Valles Marineris. Find out more about Mars at WorldBook at NASA.
Mars has been a difficult planet to understand. It has challenged the minds of scientists since Michael Maestlin first recorded its occultation in October of 1590. Galileo first observed it through a telescope in 1609. It is only now, through detailed studies of the surface, that Mars is beginning to reveal its mysteries.
NASA's Mars Exploration Program today is an extensive undertaking that continues to push scientists and engineers to new levels. Interplanetary exploration is in no way an easy or routine event. It is a very expensive and dangerous undertaking. Approximately two thirds of all missions to Mars have ended in failure. However, even the failures contribute to lessons learned. Each new mission being designed and built around the lessons learned in previous missions. The goal? To find out whether Mars was ever capable of harboring life, or if life forms can exist there today.
While modern science has been able to disprove most notions of any highly developed life forms, including ruins of large structures and canals built by ancient civilizations, they have yet to disprove the absence of life. In fact, many scientists believe life could have existed on Mars in the past, and may continue to exist today. Is there life on Mars? That is the defining question for Mars Exploration today.
