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edit   Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. It is named after the Roman god of war Mars (Ares in Greek mythology) because of its apparent red color. This feature has also earned it the nickname "The Red Planet". The prefix areo- refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth. The astronomical symbol for Mars is ♂, a circle with an arrow pointing northeast. The Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet as 火星, or fire star. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features such as craters, giant valleys, and volcanoes. Of all the planets in our Solar System other than Earth, Mars is the most likely to harbor liquid water, and perhaps life. ...Archive Nominations Read more... Show new selections edit   Selected article NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. The $720 million USD spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin under the supervision of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was launched August 12, 2005, and attained Martian orbit on March 10, 2006. It finished aerobraking, entered its final science orbit and began its primary science phase in November 2006. MRO contains a host of scientific instruments such as cameras, spectrometers, and radar, which are used to analyze the landforms, stratigraphy, minerals, and ice of Mars. It paves the way for future spacecraft by monitoring daily weather and surface conditions, studying potential landing sites, and testing a new telecommunications system. MRO's telecommunications system will transfer more data back to Earth than all previous interplanetary missions combined, and MRO will serve as a highly capable relay satellite for future missions. ...Archive Nominations Read more... edit   Selected biography Percival Lawrence Lowell (March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was a businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death. The choice of the name Pluto and its symbol were partly influenced by his initials PL. Percival Lowell, a descendant of the Boston Lowell family, was the brother of A. Lawrence, president of Harvard University, and Amy, an imagist poet, critic, and publisher. Percival graduated from the Noble and Greenough School in 1872 and Harvard University in 1876 with distinction in mathematics. At his college graduation, he gave a speech, considered very advanced for its time, on the "Nebular Hypothesis." He was later awarded honorary degrees from Amherst College and Clark University. ...Archive/Nominations Read more... edit   Topics Mars Atmosphere ˑ Exploration (Voyager 2) ˑ History Major Moons ˑ Phobos ˑ Deimos ˑ Astronomers: Tycho Brahe ˑ Percival Lowell ˑ Gerard Kuiper ˑ Christiaan Huygens See Also: Formation and evolution of the Solar System ˑ Terrestrial planet ˑ Nebular hypothesis Bold articles are featured. Italicized articles are on dwarf planets or minor moons. edit   Selected picture Credit: NASA An artist's concept of Mars Science Laboratory, a NASA Mars rover scheduled to be launched in November 2011. ...Archive Nominations Read more... edit   Related portals Astronomy Moon Uranus Space Solar System Jupiter edit   In the news Wikinews Space portal September 10: Out of space in outer space: Special report on NASA's 'space junk' plans August 18: SETI Institute set to re-open August 9: DNA components found in meteorites August 6: Juno spacecraft bound for Jupiter July 22: Space Shuttle Atlantis landing concludes program July 8: End of an era: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on final mission in program July 8: Cassini spacecraft captures large storm on Saturn July 1: U.S. space agency NASA sues ex-astronaut June 29: Debris narrowly misses International Space Station June 23: Saturn moon Enceladus may have salty ocean June 17: Study says young stars 'shoot water bullets' June 4: Space Shuttle Endeavour enters history books after nineteen years following penultimate landing of program Current events on Wikinews edit   WikiProjects Solar System Mars edit   Wikimedia Wiktionary Wikibooks Commons Definition Text Images edit   Categories Mars Mars exploration Mars in fiction edit   Things to do Contribute to... ...articles on Mars to help make them featured articles. Expand... ...astronomy stubs. Join... ...WikiProjects related to this subject. WikiProject Solar System requests Here are some tasks you can do: Article requests: To help us assess the quality and importance of Solar System articles, please see: Category:Unassessed Solar System articles and Category:Unknown-importance Solar System articles. Stubs: Beagle (crater), Early bombardment phase, Kordylewski cloud, List of Solar System bodies formerly regarded as planets, Small Solar System body, Solar conjunction What are portals? · List of portals · Featured portals Purge server cache