What Is Mars Made Of?

Mars is called the Red Planet because of its rusty red color.  Its structure is much like Earth’s, but its composition is not.  Mars was named after the Roman god of war, probably because its red color is the color of blood. It is the fourth planet from the Sun, has two moons, and is very cold. Temperatures range from -207 degrees Fahrenheit to 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mars is one of the four terrestrial planets in our Solar System. The others are Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Terrestrial means they are mostly composed of silicate rocks and are sometimes called rocky planets. 

Mars has a central core made of iron, nickel and sulfur, which measures 1500 kilometers (900 miles) in diameter. The Earth's core is partially molten, or melted, but the core of Mars is solid. It is the movement of the core which produces a magnetic field, and Mars has a very weak magnetic field. The central core is surrounded by a rocky area called a mantle, and is composed of silicates.

Basalt makes up the outer surface, or crust, of Mars, due to the volcanic activity in the past. The surface is covered by iron oxide, which gives Mars that reddish color. The Martian atmosphere is thin, and has dust storms and clouds which sometimes cover the whole planet.

Mars has ice caps at both poles, which change in size according to the temperatures during the year. The ice at the poles is made of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, not water like on Earth.   

Formation of Mars

Mars was formed the same way as the other planets in the Solar System, some four and a half billion years ago.

It started out as a collection of small dust particles, from the solar nebula, that bonded together and collected more objects and grew over time.  As other objects collided with it, the energy created heat and eventually gave Mars a molten core and volcanic activity.

There may have been life on Mars at one time, because it has all the necessary ingredients:

• Carbon
• Oxygen
• Hydrogen
• Water
• Energy source (the Sun or geothermal activity)

A meteorite, found on Earth in 1996, had microscopic life on it. Many scientists think that Mars experienced huge floods at one time, but later the water evaporated into space because of the thin atmosphere and low mass of the planet. Some feel it was dry from the beginning because it was a very large asteroid. As it was forming, it collected asteroids and comets that did not contain a lot of water, or none at all. However there is evidence of water under the surface.