About Mars

Being our next door neighbor and the most Earth-like planet, it is no wonder that Mars has been a source of fascination through the ages. It has been the subject of countless movies and science-fiction novels. In 1938 a fictional radio play by Orson Welles had Martians invading New Jersey. Thousands of people, believing Martians had invaded Earth, fled their homes.

Thoughts about ancient bacterial-like life on Mars and terraforming the planet for human settlement are on the minds of many researchers and are among the reasons for sending the Global Surveyor and Pathfinder spacecraft to Mars.

Fact Sheet - a Mars data sheet

Missions to Mars - chart of past missions

Mars Glossary - definitions of common terms

Mars Trivia - test your Mars knowledge in this short true/false quiz

Mars Images - Mars photo gallery

Where is Mars? - finding Mars in Earth's sky

Landmarks - places to visit on Mars

Terraforming Mars - how to terraform Mars