| Orbit semimajor axis | 1.52366 AU | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) |
| Eccentricity | 0.0934 | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) |
| 0.093 | (Beatty et al., 1999) | |
| 0.093 (current; varies from 0.0 to 0.14) | http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm | |
| Obliquity | 25.19° | (Carr, 1996; Beatty et al., 1999) |
| 25.189417 | (Folkner et al., 1997) | |
| 23.98° 23° 59' |
http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm | |
| Orbital inclination | 1.8504° | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Perihelic distance | 204.52 x 106 km | http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm |
| Aphelic distance | 246.28 x 106 km | http://cmex.ar c.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm |
| Mean orbital period | 686.98 Earth days 669.60 Mars solar days (=sols) |
(Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) |
| 686.930 (sidereal period) 779.94 (synodic period) |
(Beatty et al., 1999) | |
| Mean orbital velocity | 24.13 km/sec | (Beatty et al., 1999) |
| Mean daily motion | 0.52405°/day | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Mean solar day | 24h 39.6min (1.026 Earth days) | (Carr, 1996) |
| Length of sidereal day | 24h 37 min 22.663 ± 0.002 sec | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Length of mean solar day | 88775.2 sec | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Sidereal rotation period | 24.6230 h | (Beatty et al., 1999) |
| Semimajor axis | 227.92 x 106 km | Values from the NASA Mars fact sheet at the
Goddard Space Flight Center (September 1999) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| Semimajor axis | 1.52366231 AU | |
| Sidereal orbit period | 686.980 days | |
| Tropical orbit period | 686.973 days | |
| Perihelion | 206.62 x 106 km | |
| Aphelion | 249.23 x 106 km | |
| Synodic period | 779.94 days | |
| Mean orbital velocity | 24.13 km/s | |
| Max. orbital velocity | 26.50 km/s | |
| Min. orbital velocity | 21.97 km/s | |
| Orbit inclination | 1.850° | |
| Orbit eccentricity | 0.0935 | |
| Sidereal rotation period | 24.6229 h | |
| Obliquity to orbit | 25.19° | |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0.09341233 | |
| Orbital inclination | 1.85061° | |
| Longitude of ascending node | 49.57854° | |
| Longitude of perihelion | 336.04084° | |
| Mean Longitude | 355.45332° |
| Right ascension of the Martian spin axis (°) | 317.681 - 0.108 T(1) | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| 317.68143 - 0.1061 T(1) | (Folkner et al., 1997) | |
| Declination of the Martian spin axis (°) | 52.886 - 0.061 T(1) | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| 52.88650 - 0.0609 T(1) | (Folkner et al., 1997) | |
| Prime Meridian W (°) | 176.901 + 350.8919830 d(2) 176.901 (fixed) |
(Vaughan,
1995) (Folkner et al., 1997) |
| Rotation rate | 350.8919830°/ day | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| 350.89198521°/day | (Folkner et al., 1997) | |
| Rotation period (length of a Martian day) | 1.026 days | (Vaughan, 1995) |
(1) T = interval in Julian centuries from the epoch J2000
(1 Julian century = 36525 days).
(2) d = interval in days from the epoch J2000.
| MassDE403 (1) | 6.4185 x 1023 kg | (Vaughan, 1995; Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| 6.421 x 1023 kg | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| 6.419 x 1023 kg | (e.g. Beatty et al., 1999) | |
| 6.46 x 1023 kg | http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm | |
| Mean density | 3.933 g/cm3 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| 3.940 g/cm3 | http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/wall/mars.html | |
| 3.910 g/cm3 | (Beatty et al., 1999)> | |
| 3.933.5 ± 0.0004 g/cm3 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) | |
| Gravitational parameter GMDE403 (1) | 42828.314 km3/sec2 | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| 42828.370371 km3/sec2 | (Vaughan, 1995) | |
| Gravitational parameter GMMars50c (2) | 42828.3 ± 0.1 km3/sec2 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| 42830 km3/sec2 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| Gravitational acceleration | 3.719m/sec2 (=0.379g) | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| 3.711 m/sec2 | ||
| 3.758 m/sec2 (at pole) | ||
| 3.711 m/sec2 (at equator) | ||
| 3.69 m/sec2 (equatorial surface gravity) | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| 3.727 m/sec2 | (Spohn et al., 1998) | |
| Escape velocity | 5.0 km/sec | (Beatty et al., 1999) |
| 5.03 km/sec | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| 5.027 km/sec | (Carr, 1996; Spohn et al., 1998) | |
| Polar moment of inertia (C/MR2) | 0.345 - 0.365 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| 0.355 ± 0.015 (pre-Pathfinder, i.e. Viking-Based) | (Yoder and Standish, 1997) | |
| 0.3662 ± 0.0017 | (Folkner et al., 1997) | |
| Gravitational oblateness (J2) | 1960.454 x 10-6 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| 1960.45 x 10-6 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| Mean radius | 3389.508 ± 0.003 km | (Smith et al., 1999) |
| Mean equatorial radius | 3396.200 ± 0.160 km | |
| North polar radius | 376.189 ± 0.05 km | |
| South polar radius | 3382.580 ± 0.05 km | |
| Triaxial ellipsoid | ||
| a | 3398.627 km | |
| b | 3393.760 km | |
| c | 3376.200 km | |
| 1/flattening | 169.8 ± 1.0 | |
| Directions of principal ellipsoid axes | ||
| a | 1.0°N, 72.4°E | |
| b | 0°N, 342.4°E | |
| c | 89.0°N, 252.4°E | |
| Ellipsoid offset of CoF from CoM | ||
| delta_x | -233 m | |
| delta_y | -1428 m | |
| delta_z | -2986 m | |
(1)DE403 = JPL Planetary ephemeris DE403; see Standish et al., 1995. (2) Mars50c = see Konopliv and Sjogren, 1995.
| Requatorial IAU | 3393.4 km | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| Rpolar IAU | 3375.8 km | (Vaughan, 1995) |
| Flattening(Requatorial IAU - Rpolar IAU) / Requatorial IAU | 0.005186 (or 1/192.81) 0.0069 0.00648 0.00649 |
(Beatty et al., 1999) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| Sphere flatness | 0.009 | http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm |
| Volume | 16.318 x 1010 km3 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| Surface area | 1.4441 x 1014 m2 = 1.441 x 108 km2 = 144 Mio km2) | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) |
| Magnetic dipole moment MB | < 8 x 1011 T m3 | (Spohn et al., 1998) |
| Rx-equatorial Mars-GRAM (1) | 3393.67 km | (Vaughan, 1995) | |
| Rx-equatorial Mars-GRAM (1) | 3393.21 km | (Vaughan, 1995) | |
| Rpolar Mars-GRAM (1) | 3376.78 km | (Vaughan, 1995) | |
| Surface pressure | 6.9 mbar - 9 mbar (Viking Lander - 1) | ||
| Mean surface pressure | 5.6 mbar (=560 Pa) | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) | |
| 6.7 mbar - 6.8 mbar (daily fluctuations of 0.2 mbar - 0.3 mbar due to thermal tides) during sols 1-30 | (Schofield et al., 1997) | ||
| Average mass of atmosphere | 2.17 x 1016 kg | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) | |
| Average columnar mass of atmosphere | 150 km/m2 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) | |
| Surface density | ~0.02 kg/m3 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| Scale height | 8 km 10.8 km (mean scale height at T = 210K) 11.1 km |
(Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
|
| Average temperature | ~220 K ~210 K |
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| Diurnal temperature range | 184 K -242 K (Viking Lander - 1) | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| 197K - 263 K (at 1 m height) NOTE: fluctuations of up to 20 K in the Morning due to warming at the surface and convection by small eddies! |
(Golombek et al., 1999) | ||
| Wind speeds | 2-7 m/sec (N summer), 5-10 m/sec (N fall), 17-30 m/sec (dust storm) | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| <10 m/sec (<1m/sec in the morning hours) NOTE: frequent dust devils with higher wind speeds during midmorning until mid afternoon (accompanied by drop of solar power during at least one dust devil)! |
(Schofield et al., 1997) | ||
| Mean molecular weight | 43.34 g/mole | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html | |
| Optical depth | 0.5 (more stable at noon and afternoon than in the morning; increasing during sols 1-80), early mission: 0.4 - 0.5 (all filters), late mission: 0.6 | (Smith et al., 1999;Smith and Lemmon, 1999) | |
| (0.1-) 0.2 (-0.5) | (Vaughan, 1995) | ||
| 0.1 - 10 | (Kieffer et al., 1992) | ||
| Atmospheric Electricity | (Grard, viewgraph shown at ESTEC science meeting, June 3-4, 1999) | ||
| conductivity | 10-11 Ohm/m | ||
| large upward electric field | |||
| dust electrostatic charging | |||
(1) (GRAM = Global Reference Atmospheric Model, version 3.33; see Justus and Chimonas, 1989)
| Solar irradiance | 595 W/m2 | |
| Solar constant at mean distance from sun | 588.98 W/m | (Kieffer et al., 1992; Carr, 1996) |
| Solar constant | 0.866 Langley ( = cal/cm2/s) | http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm |
| Solar spectrum incident | Photon flux (m-2 s-1 eV-1) vs. Photon energy (eV) at 50°N (spring - higher; winter - lower) | (Grard, viewgraph shown at ESTEC science meeting, June 3-4, 1999) |
| Photoelectron characteristics | ||
| volume density | 1.3 - 9.4 cm-3 | |
| flux | 1.1 x 1011 m-2 s-1 - 8.7 x 1011 m-2 s-1 | |
| mean kinetic energy | 0.4 eV | |
| Visual geometric albedo | 0.150 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| Bond albedo | 0.16 | |
| Surface bolometric albedo | 0.25 (mean) 0.08 - 0.40 |
(Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Visual magnitude V(1.0) | -1.52 | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html |
| Black-body temperature | 217 K 216.6 K |
|
| Surface thermal inertia | mean: 6.5 x 10-3 cal cm-2 s-1/2 K-1 or: 272 J m-2 s-1/2 K-1 range: 1-15 x 10-3 cal cm-2 s-1/2 K-1 or: 42 - 628 J m-2 s-1/2 K-1 |
(Kieffer et al., 1992) |
| Average surface temperature | 210.1 K | |
| Range of surface temperatures | ~140 - 300 K | |
| Gas | Abundance | Abundance (ppb) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO2 | 95.32% | 953,200,000 | (1) |
| N2 | 2.7% | 27,000,000 | |
| 40Ar | 1.6% | 16,000,000 | |
| O2 | 0.13% | 1,300,000 | |
| CO | 0.07% | 700,000 | |
| H2O | 0.03% | 300,000 | (2) |
| 36Ar + 38Ar | 5.3 ppm | 5,300 | |
| Ne | 2.5 ppm | 2,400 | |
| Kr | 0.3 ppm | 300 | |
| Xe | 0.08 ppm | 80 | |
| O3 | 0.04 ppm | 40 | (2) |
(1) Based on elemental composition, expressed as oxides.
(2) Based on direct soil analyses from Viking X-ray
Fluorescence Spectrometer.
(3) Based on SNC meteorite analyses.
(4) Based on terrestrial simulations of Viking Labelled
Release experiment.
(5) Spatially and temporally variable.
| Gas | Abundance (ppb) | Gas | Abundance (ppb) | Gas | Abundance (ppb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HCOH | 600 (?) 3 |
HCl | 100 (?) 2 |
CH4 | 20 (?) 70 ± 150 |
| C2H4 | 500 | C2H6 | 400 | N2O | 100 |
| PH3 | 100 | SO2 | 100 | H2S | 100 |
| H2O2 | 30 | NO2 | 10 | OCS | 10 |
| NH3 | 5 | C2H2 | 2 |
Refs.: Maguire (1977), Beer
et al. (1971), Owen and Sagan (1972), Krasnopolsky et al. (1997)
(?) Krasnopolsky et al.
(1997)
| Constituent | Concentration (%) | Notes | Average Martian Soil | "Barnacle Bill" | "Wedge" | "Yogi" | "Shark" | "Half Dome" | Constituent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SiO2 | 43.4 | (2) | 51.6 | 58.5 ± 2.9 | 52.2 ± 2.6 | 55.5 ± 2.8 | 61.2 ± 3.1 | 55.3 ± 2.8 | SiO2 |
| Fe2O3 | 18.2 | (2) | Fe2O3 | ||||||
| FeO | 13.4 | 12.9 ± 1.3 | 15.4 ± 1.5 | 13.1 ± 1.3 | 11.9 ± 1.2 | 13.9 ± 1.4 | FeO | ||
| Al2O3 | 7.2 | (2) | 9.1 | 10.8 ± 1.1 | 10.0 ± 1.0 | 9.1 ± 0.9 | 9.9 ± 1.0 | 10.6 ± 1.1 | Al2O3 |
| SO3 | 7.2 | (2) | 5.3 | 2.2 ± 0.4 | 2.8 ±0.6 | 3.9 ± 0.8 | 0.7 ± 0.3 | 2.6 ± 0.5 | SO3 |
| MgO | 6.0 | (2) | 7.1 | 3.0 ± 0.5 | 4.9 ± 0.7 | 5.9 ± 0.9 | 3.0 ± 0.5 | 4.9 ± 0.7 | MgO |
| CaO | 5.8 | (2) | 7.3 | 5.3 ± 0.8 | 7.4 ± 1.1 | 6.6 ± 1.0 | 7.8 ±1.2 | 6.0 ± 0.9 | CaO |
| Na2O | 1.34 | (3) | 2.0 | 3.2 ± 1.3 | 3.1 ± 1.2 | 1.7 ± 0.7 | 2.0 ± 0.8 | 2.4 ± 1.0 | Na2O |
| Cl | 0.8 | (2) | 0.7 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.5 ± 0.2 | 0.6 ± 0.2 | 0.3 ± 0.2 | 0.6 ± 0.2 | Cl |
| P2O5 | 0.68 | (3) | P2O5 | ||||||
| TiO2 | 0.68 | (2) | 1.1 | 0.8 ± 0.2 | 1.0 ± 0.1 | 0.9 ± 0.1 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.9 ± 0.1 | TiO2 |
| MnO | 0.45 | (3) | MnO | ||||||
| Cr2O | 0.29 | (3) | Cr2O | ||||||
| K2O | 0.10 | (3) | 0.5 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.8 ± 0.1 | K2O |
| CO3 | <2 | (4) | CO3 | ||||||
| H2O | 0-1 | (5) | H2O | ||||||
| Constituent | Concentration (%) | Notes | Average Martian Soil | "Barnacle Bill" | "Wedge" | "Yogi" | "Shark" | "Half Dome" | Constituent |
(1) Based on elemental composition, expressed as oxides.
(2) Based on direct soil analyses from Viking X-ray
Fluorescence Spectrometer.
(3) Based on SNC meteorite analyses.
(4) Based on terrestrial simulations of Viking Labelled
Release experiment.
(5) Spatially and temporally variable.
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