Planet Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system. It has been named after the Roman God of War. Mars seem to be a favorite planet for other countries also. In Babylonian astronomy, it is named 'Nergal', their deity of fire, war and destruction. In Hindu mythology, Mars is known as 'Angala' and Angaraka in Sanskrit. The Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese it was Fire Star.



When we observe Mars from our Planet Earth, it takes on a red hue; thereby it is called as Red Planet. Our ancestors attributed the reddish tinge to fire, war and destruction.

It has two known moons Phobos and Deimos. Another important characteristic of Mars is that it can be viewed from the earth through the naked eye.

Man has always been very curious on exploring other planets but he has showed special interest in Mars. Planet Mars enjoys a special status among our astrologers and geographers. Regarding technical data about Mars - it is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere - little is known about the presence of any gas or life supporting systems.

After many successful manned as well as unmanned trips to the moon, the scientists are in possession of virtually everything you need to know. They have equated the geographical features they have seen on Mars with similar features in Mars and Earth. For example, the impact craters show a very close similarity to the impact craters of Moon.

The data available so far indicate that Mars do have similar geographical features to that of valleys, deserts, polar ice caps and volcanoes of the earth. Mars has the special distinction of 'Olympus Mons', the highest known in the Solar System and 'Valles Marineris' the largest canyon. Another piece of information the scientists could gather was of a similarity between seasonal cycles and rotational period of Earth and Mars.

Due to the identical axial tilt of both Earth and Mars, there's a close similarity in the seasons and other geological features of these two planets. Mars experiences dust storms that cover the entire planet.

After various visits by unmanned spacecrafts of Mariner series, Mariner 4 indicated the possibility of water on Mars. But this fact has yet to be authenticated. Mars has now a host of spacecrafts orbiting Mars as well as land based Mars Exploration Rovers who are endeavoring hard to seek out indications of water and any form of life on Mars.

Although the data collected so far by the scientists has been very voluminous, they are unable to establish beyond doubt whether Mars had any form of life at any time or is it barren without life land mass from inception. However, the search for more data on Mars will continue.

The data collected so far on Mars has proved to be a boon to our astrologers. By studying the various photographs and other data of Mars sent in by the exploring spacecrafts, they claim that this gives them a better insight of our Solar System.

The explorations to Mars and other planets will certainly continue as man's thirst for knowledge cannot be quenched. Man will be able to land on Mars and other planets and will be able to remove all the myths surrounding these planets one day.