Mars Global Surveyor Magnetic Field Experiment for Kids

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WHY IS MARS COOL?

Mars is cool because...

it is cool! The average Martian temperature is -63°C, with a high record of 20°C and a low record of -140°C.
the Martian day is 24 hours and 37 minutes Earth time -- pretty close to ours!
the Martian year, on the other hand, is 687 Earth days -- nearly twice Earth's.
Mars's moon Phobos orbits Mars every seven hours (the Moon orbits Earth every 27.3 days.
Martian air contains 1/1000 as much water as Earth's, but still can form clouds, fog, and frost.
if you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you would only weigh 38 on Mars.
the mass of Mars is 6.4219x10^23 kg, or the mass of 4,700,000,000,000,000,000 blue whales!
Mars has interesting magnetic fields!
the presence of what seem to be canals and the placement of rocks in flood-like patterns cause scientists to believe that water once existed on Mars; now the question is where it went! Some studies have said that Mars's lack of magnetosphere may have allowed the solar wind to carry off a huge amount of water from the Martian surface over billions of years.
it's such a challenge -- scientists conclude that living on Mars (without some kind of high-tech provisions) isn't possible because of UV rays and dry, oxidizing soil.

MGS MAG/ER is an international collaboration by: