Glenn Elert
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The Physics Factbook™
Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students
An educational, Fair Use website
topic index | author index | special index
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) | Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Chaisson, Eric, & Steve McMillian. Astronomy Today. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993: 254, 258. | "In 1964 Mariner 4 confirmed these results, finding that the atmospheric pressure is only 1/150 the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at sea level and that carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up at least 95 percent of the total atmosphere." | 0.675 kPa |
| Mars (planet). Encarta. Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 1993-2000. | "The pressure of Mars's atmosphere varies with the season, ranging from 6 to 10 millibars (1 millibar is approximately one one-thousandth of the air pressure at the surface of Earth)." | 0.6–1 kPa |
| Kieffer, H.H, & B.M. Jakosky. Mars. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1992. as cited in Basic Mars Facts. NASA. | "The average air pressure at the surface of Mars is 6 millibars (compared to 1013 millibars on Earth)." | 0.6 kPa |
| Zubrin, Robert & Richard Wagner. The Case for Mars. New York: Touchstone, 1996: 148. | "The atmosphere pressure measured at the two Viking sites varied over a Martian year between 7 and 10 millibars (1 bar is Earth sea-level atmospheric pressure, or 14.7 psi; 10 millibar, or mbar, is 1 percent Earth sea-level atmospheric pressure), with a year-round average of about 8 mbar observed at the higher altitude Viking 1 landing site on Chryse Planitia." | 0.7–1 kPa |
| Wilders, Shaun. The Planets of our Solar System Explored and Explained. 1998. | "The atmosphere is made up mainly of carbon dioxide, and its pressure is only about one-hundredth of that on Earth." | 1 kPa |
Mars, the red planet, is the fourth planet from the Sun andorbits the Sun at a distance of 228 million km. Mars is namedfor the Roman god of war because it appears fiery red in Earth'snight sky. The surface of Mars would be a harsh place for humans,but has more surface characteristics similarities with the Earththan any other planet.
Exploration of Mars began in 1960, when the USSR launched itsfirst probe to Mars. The United States launched the Marinerand Viking missions in the 1960s and 1970s. The programsreturned a vast amount of data about the chemical and physicalcharacteristics of Mars and a large number of photographs of itssurface. One of the key problems in the spacecraft mission toMars in the early 1960s was whether the density of the Martianatmosphere could be accurately determined. In 1975, National Aeronauticsand Space Administration (NASA) launched a series of probes toMars, Viking 1 and 2. These spacecraft providedscientists with most of the current data about Mars.
The pressure at the surface of Mars is approximately 1 kPaand depends upon the Martian weather. Some sources don't giveprecise data, but only compare it to the earth's characteristics.
Lauren Mikulski -- 2000
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