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In H.G. Wells'1898 science fiction novel War of the Worlds, the Earth is attacked by beings from the planet mars. When
read over the radio by Orson Welles in 1938 caused quite a panic. The panic occurred because at the time, little was known
about the red planet. Today we know that there will never be an attack from the planet Mars, since there are no intelligent beings
there to carry out the attack. Recently, two rovers were sent to investigate the plaent that is more similar to Earth than any other
planet in the solar system. The rovers have yet to find life, but they have found evidence for water, which would be required for life as
we know it.
Mars is much smaller than Earth, with a diameter of 6,794km or about .53 Earth diameters and a mass of planet only .107 Earth masses. The atmosphere of Mars is very thin compared to Earth's and consists of 95.3% Carbon Dioxide, 2.7% Nitrogen, and 1.6% Argon. The gravity on Mars is slightly more than one-third of Earth's. The fourth planet from the sun has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, though they are little more than asteroids. Neither moon is even large enough to create gravitaional forces that pull the moon into a spherical shape. |
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