I’m going to talk about one of our nearest neighbours in

the Solar System - the planet Mars.

● Mars is the 4th planet from the sun. It’s a terrestrial
planet - that means it has a hard, rocky surface that
you could walk on.
● Mars' surface is dry and covered with a reddish dust
and rocks.
● From Earth, Mars looks red.
● It has impressive natural features. One of its volcanos
is the highest mountain in the Solar System. It’s 3
times as high as Mount Everest and towers 16 miles
above the Martian surface.
● It also has the biggest canyon in the Solar System.
The Great Canyon is much bigger than the Grand
Canyon in America. It’s 4 miles deep and stretches
for thousands of miles.
● Mars is a stormy place with strong winds blowing
clouds of dust into the sky.
● These dust storms are powered by the Sun and can
grow huge, covering much of the planet. Some
storms are so big they can be seen by amateur
astronomers on Earth.
● The temperature on Mars ranges from -120 degrees
to 15 degrees, much, much colder than here on
Earth... It’s not a nice place for a holiday, so stick to
Centre Parcs, teachers!
● In some ways, Mars isn’t that different to Earth. Mars
spins and orbits the Sun in a similar way to Earth, so
its years and days are similar to ours.
● Mars is a rocky planet like Earth but it’s quite a bit
smaller.
● Unlike Earth, Mars has a very thin atmosphere made
up mostly of carbon dioxide. That’s why it’s much
colder than Earth.
● Scientists believe that water once existed there,
● so perhaps there was life on Mars billions of years
ago.
● Astronauts have not been to Mars yet.
● But we have sent rovers to Mars, like this one.
● These have sent back images of the planet’s surface
for scientists on Earth to study. Rovers also take rock
samples. They have found evidence that water once
existed on Mars. This could mean that the planet
once had life.
● One day, humans may go to Mars. This would be
challenging because we can’t breathe the
atmosphere.
● Some people think we should spend more time taking
care of the planet we live on now - Earth! I agree, but
I hope that we do go to Mars one day. What do you
think?