Mars is the last of the "terrestrial planets" as you move away from the Sun. It has served as the backdrop for more science fiction stories since the 19th century than just about any other planet in the solar system.
It is the fourth planet of the solar system. It shines brightly as a red ruby in our night sky, and is one of the brightest night time objects, lagging behind Jupiter and Venus and the Moon. The brightness of Mars also varies with time based in how far it is away from earth.
Numerous spacecraft have been lofted towards Mars by a growing number of worldwide space agencies in recent years. So far, the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan have sent missions to Mars. China is even getting into the act. The Yinghuo-1 craft piggybacked a ride on the recently stranded Phobos-Grunt mission and has been declared a loss by Chinese state media. Sending spacecraft to the red planet is a risky proposition. About two thirds of the missions sent to Mars end up in failure. But when they succeed there is a great reaping scientific benefits.
We have been able to land probes to analyze Martian soil, take images of the landscape, and get detailed radar and topographic data. Mars is littered with the wreckage of failed spacecraft, as well as probes and rovers that have successfully completed their mission. One particular rover, which has survived well past its intended mission is the Opportunity Rover. This little energizer bunny landed on Mars in the 25th of January in 2004 and it is still going. It survived getting stuck in the sand, massive dust storms, dust devils, and the bone crackling cold of Martian winters.
The latest mission to be sent to Mars Science Laboratory, also called Curiosity. Curiosity will drop off a Mini-Cooper sized lander that will zoom around the Martian surface conducting a number of experiments.
The Martian year is nearly twice as long as an Earth year. When compared to Earth, it also has similar seasons. Mars experiences both a summer and winter season. However, marition seasons show much greater variation due it is thin atmosphere and longevity of its orbit around the Sun.
Mars has a pair of rather irregularly shaped moons, that look very similar to asteroids. It is theorized that these captured from the nearby asteroid belt. However, exactly how this capture occurred is the under some debate.
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