Mars is essentially the most explored planet within the photo voltaic system after the Moon. It’s located between Jupiter and the Earth and is the fourth terrestrial planet from the Solar. Mars has a radius of 3200 km versus 6400 km of the Earth. It additionally has 10 instances lesser mass than the Earth, nonetheless, it has twice the mass in comparison with Mercury.
Since 1960, a complete of 56 missions have been launched to the crimson planet, the place among the most notable ones embody the Mariner 9, Viking 1 and a couple of, Mars Odyssey, the Spirit and Alternative Rovers, Japan’s Nozomi Mars Probe, Europe’s Mars Specific and Beagle 2 Lander, Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars Pathfinder Spacecraft and Sojourner Rover, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA presently employs three spacecraft within the orbit, together with a lander and a rover on its floor.
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What does Sol imply on Mars?
Sol is a NASA time period for Photo voltaic day and is basically utilized by the planetary scientists. It refers back to the time that it takes for Mars to revolve as soon as round its personal axis. Mars has an analogous day by day cycle because the Earth, and the time period Sol is used to tell apart it for its longer photo voltaic day than the Earth by roughly 3%. The photo voltaic day on Earth is barely shorter as a result of the Mars orbit across the solar requires it to show a bit additional on the axis.
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How lengthy is a Sol on Mars?
The typical Martian photo voltaic day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds lengthy, whereas, the sidereal day is about 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds. It’s roughly about 40 minutes longer than the Earth day.
The spacecraft which are despatched to Mars have a novel clock often known as “The Mars Clock.” It helps undertaking and preserve a observe of the photo voltaic native time. This particular clock has 2.7% longer hours, minutes and seconds than that of the Earth’s photo voltaic day. The entire house crew members which are a part of any Mars mission are given these distinctive wristwatches that assist preserve observe of the Martian native time.
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Picture credit: NASA
