VISUALIZATIONS OF MARS

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is commonly referred to as the Red Planet. The rocks, soil and sky have a red or pink hue. The distinct red color was observed by stargazers throughout history. It was given its name by the Romans in honor of their god of war. Other civilizations have had similar names. The ancient Egyptians named the planet Her Descher meaning the red one.

The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Several others followed including Mars 2, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and the two Viking landers in 1976. Ending a long 20 year hiatus, Mars Pathfinder landed successfully on Mars on 1997 July 4.

These artist renderings are based on real spacecraft data :

PIC 1 : MARS IN THE NOACHIAN PERIOD
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Mars is shown above as a young planet with lakes and erupting volcanoes in the Noachian period, about 4 billion years ago. The Northern hemisphere shows the Vastitas Bolearis filled with water and some ice around the North Pole. The large lake at the bottom right is the Meridian where the Opportunity found evidence of such a lake/inner sea. At the left large lava fields glow in the dark. Some meteors lighten the thin atmosphere.


PIC 2 : MARS EVPORATING WATER IN THE ARAM CHAOS
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Mars has still some water, but it's evaporating and leaving deposits on the shores of its disappearing lakes. A possible view of Mars some billion years ago.


PIC 3 ; HELLAS PLANITIA
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Shown above is the Hellas Planitia northern ridge. Sun streaks in the dusty atmosphere. The lower terrain is the depression which goes to about 6km depth. View from west to east.


PIC 4 ; NORTHPOLE AND VASTITAS BOREALIS
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Shown above is an overhead view of the Northpole (left) and the the Vastitas Borealis. The large crater at the top is the Korolev Crater. This crater is about 85 km (53 mi) in diameter.
(Checkout www.space.com for more pictures of Mars)

To get ready for this momentous skywatching event, now would be a fine time to reacquaint yourself with the Red Planet [maps/charts]. All during the summer of 2002 Mars was pretty much out of view because of its proximity to the Sun. But during the latter part of September it began to emerge back into view in the morning sky and is in full view, though for now it appears rather small in the sky and low on the horizon.

However, this is only the beginning of what will turn out to be the most dramatic and spectacular Mars apparition you or any of your ancestors has ever had a chance to see.

The Red Planet is getting progressively closer to Earth with each passing night, and consequently it will slowly appear to grow larger and brighter.

Mars will come into its Opposition on December 24, 2007 in constellation Gemini. Six days earlier, on December 18, 2007, the planet will have come to its closes distance to Earth during this apparation: 88.42 million km (55 million miles, or 0.58935 AU).

An international group of space enthusiasts announced Monday a microphone will be sent to Mars in 2007 aboard a French spacecraft, easing the disappointment of a previous U.S. attempt that ended in failure.

The Planetary Society said the microphone will be included in the French space agency's NetLander mission, which will land four small spacecraft on Mars. The nonprofit group had funded a similar attempt once before, but it ended in failure when the microphone and the NASA spacecraft carrying it were lost.

If successful this time, the group said the member-sponsored microphone would be the first device to return the sounds of another planet to Earth.

"We have seen other worlds and even touched them via robotic senses, but the Mars Microphone will offer humanity the first opportunity to listen to the sounds on the surface of an alien world," said Louis Friedman, executive director of the 100,000-member space exploration advocacy group.