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July 20, 2025 9 mins
Interestingly, Mars isn’t entirely red. Up close, its terrain features shades of brown, gold, and tan. The sky, which appears red from the surface due to suspended dust particles, can sometimes take on a blue hue at sunrise and sunset, the opposite of what happens on Earth.Learn more on the SpaceInfo Club Learning hub!#mars #red #spaceexploration
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the deep dive.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today. We're looking at well more than just the planet,
aren't we. We're sort of digging into this long held
human fascination finding another place out there, and nowhere really
captures that dream quite like Mars. So our mission today
really is to unpack the sources you provided. We want
to understand, you know, why Mars is the red planet

(00:24):
and what makes its features so well, so extraordinary, and
maybe touch on why it keeps pulling us back, why
we're still so curious about it. We're aiming to pull
out some surprising facts for you, give you real hand
on our neighbor. Okay, so first things first, everyone knows
Mars is red, but why what's actually going on there?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Right? Well, that classic red color comes down to iron
oxide basically rust, just like you'd find here on Earth,
but you know, on a planetary.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Scale rust Okay, like a whole planet past.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Pretty much, and the science is fascinating. Billions of years
back Mars it had liquid water, loads of it potentially,
and when that water met the iron rich rocks, lots
of silicates in there, it caused oxidation hematite mostly, and
some think UV radiation might have even like sped things
up by breaking down water molecules, then over ages and ages.

(01:11):
The Martian winds just whipped this fine red dust all
over the place, giving us that reddish tint we see.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Huh, So the red dust is kind of like a
record of its past potential, a lost, watery past, very
different from our blue Earth.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
But is it all red? Like if you were standing there,
would everything just look rusty?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Ah?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Good question, No, not really. From far away, yes, it's
strikingly red. But the close up pictures they show a
much more varied look yet, big patches of brown, gold,
even tan. And here's something really wild. The sources mentioned
the sky.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
The sky.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, during the day it often looks reddish because of
all that dust hanging in the air. But get this,
during sunrise and sunset, it can actually turn blue blue.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
That's a complete opposite of Earth. Our sunsets are red
and orange. Exactly. It's a really neat inversion.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Okay, that's fascinating. But Mars isn't just you know, a
pretty color. Its features they tell an even bigger story
right beyond the red. It sounds like it's a planet
of extremes.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Oh. Absolutely. The sources really pull out five standout things
that make Mars incredible. First off, this one just blows
my mind every time. Is Olympus Mons.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
The giant volcano, the.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Giant volcano tallest in the whole Solar System. It's this
massive shield volcano standing twenty two kilometers high. That's thirteen
point six miles. I mean, think about it. That's almost
three times the height of Mount Everest.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Three times Everest.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Wow, that scale is just yeah, hard to grasp. Does
that immense size tell us something specific about how volcanoes
worked on Mars compared to here?

Speaker 3 (02:40):
It tells us a lot. Actually, It's huge size suggests
really really long periods of volcanic activity. It implies the
magna source underneath state put for an incredibly long time,
unlike Earth. You know where our tectonic plates move things around.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Ah okay, so no plate tectonics move in the crossover
the hotspot exactly.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
So these volcanos could just build and build and build.
Points to a very active geological past. And then there's
Valis Marineris. People call it the Grand Canyon of Mars.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Right, But it makes our Grand Canyon look small, doesn't it?

Speaker 3 (03:10):
It really does. This thing isn't just a Canyon. It's
the biggest canyon system in the Solar System. Stretches over
four thousand kilometers that's twenty five hundred miles long. So yeah,
about ten times longer and maybe four times deeper than
our Grand Canyon. It's immense, okay, Metz.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
And if it's that big, maybe tectonics again, yeah, but
different from Earth's.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
How did it form?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's a really key point. Our Grand Canyon was carved
mostly by the Colorado River right on an uplifted plateau
valas mariners, though, The thinking is it's mainly a massive
tectonic rift, like the planet's crust just cracked open, a
giant crack. Yeah, maybe later widened by erosion, and possibly
even some ancient water flows contributed to, but its scale

(03:53):
points towards a different kind of crustal stress than Earth's
plate tectonics, something perhaps more fundamental to early You mentioned.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Water flows again there, which I guess leads us right
into one of the biggest Martian mysteries, the signs of
ancient water that seems to be everywhere in the discussion.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
It really is, and you know, it's central to why
we're so interested, especially for the search for life. The
evidence is pretty compelling. We see these ancient river beds,
dried up lake basins, minerals that only form in water.
It all strongly suggests Mars was well warmer and wetter
a long time ago.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
So not the cold, dry desert we see now.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Not always. No, And what's really exciting now are the
more recent discoveries. We've found lots of subsurface ice and
maybe even seasonal flows of salty, briny water on some
slopes today really water now possibly, yeah, very salty, which
helps it stay liquid at low temperatures. Keeps that hope alive,
you know, finding microbial life maybe hiding out in those

(04:51):
little niches. Okay. Next up is the extreme weather and climate.
Mars isn't exactly pleasant.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right, I hear? The dust storms are something else.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Oh, they're legendary. They can kick up and last for months.
Sometimes they grow so big they cover the entire planet in.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Dust, the whole planet.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah. And the temperatures Burg can drop to minus one
twenty five celsius at night. That's minus one ninety five fahrenheit.
Just incredibly cold.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yikes.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
But despite all that, it still has seasons like Earth.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
It does, which pretty cool. It has an axial tilt
similar to Earth, so it experiences distinct seasons. Adds another
layer of well complexity to this seemingly harsh world.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Amazing, okay, so extreme geology, extreme weather. What about its
little companions?

Speaker 3 (05:39):
The moon's right number five, Phobos and Deminos Mars two moons.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
The not round like our moon?

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Are they? No, not at all? They're small, kind of
potato shaped, irregular. The general ideas are probably asteroids that
got captured by Mars's gravity way back.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
When captured asteroids.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Okay, and here's a neat, slightly ominous detail from the
sources about Phobos, the inner one. Oh, it's actually slowly
spiraling inWORD towards Mars.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Seriously, it's a good crash eventually.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, the calculation suggested it'll either hit Mars or get
torn apart by gravity and former ring, probably within the
next say, fifty million years or so.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Fifty million years okay, not tomorrow then, but still put
a dramatic little system. So we've got this incredible list.
Giant volcanoes, vast canyons, signs of past water, crazy weather,
doomed moons. What does it all add up to? Why
is Mars still such a huge focus for us. Why
pour all these resources into exploring it?

Speaker 3 (06:32):
That's the big question, isn't it? And I think if
you connect all these dots, Mars isn't just you know,
another point of light in the sky. It really represents possibility, curiosity,
maybe even our own future. It's like a cosmic mirror in.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Some ways, a mirror how so.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well, first there's the obvious one, the search for life.
It's considered one of the best places in our solar system,
maybe the best besides Earth where life might have existed,
probably mitrobial life back when it was warmer and wetter.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
And finding that would be Minia.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Oh, completely game changing. Finding life that evolved separately from earthlife.
That would suggest life isn't some unique fluke that it
might be you know, common out there, or even if
it shares origins with earthlife maybe through meteorite exchange, that's
still an incredible story about how life spreads. It fundamentally
shifts how we see ourselves in the universe.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Okay, the search for life is huge. What else?

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Then there's the idea of the future of human colonization.
It sounds like science fiction, but people are serious. Earth
has challenges, right, environmental pressures population. Mars is seen by
some as a potential second home, a backup.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Plan, maybe like actually living there.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, concepts like terraforming, you know, trying to make Mars
more earth like warming it up, thickening the atmosphere, or
building habitats underground using Martian resources like water ice. These
aren't just dreams anymore. People are actively researching how it
could be done.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Wow, that's a huge leap.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
It is, and related to that, Mars gives us this
amazing window into planetary evolution. Studying how Mars changed helps
us understand how any planet evolves, which brings up big
questions like why did Mars change so drastically? Why did
it lose its magnetic field? Why did its atmosphere thin out?
Why go from potentially warm and wet to cold and dry?

Speaker 1 (08:17):
You know why?

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Well, the leading theory is its smaller size. It cooled
down faster than Earth, Its core solidified, the magnetic field died.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
And the magnetic field was like a shield.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Exactly Without that shield, the solar wind could just strip
away the atmosphere over millions of years. Understanding that process, well,
it's potentially a cautionary tale for understanding Earth's own long
term climate future.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
A cautionary tail that's sobering it is.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
And finally, Mars is just the logical next stepping stone
for deep space exploration. Going to Mars, living and working there,
even temporarily, it's the next giant leap for humans in space.
The technologies we develop, the experience we gain, that all
paves the way for maybe exploring the Outer Solar System
later on, or you know, eventually maybe even aiming for
planets around other stars. Mars is kind of the proving ground.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
What an incredible picture you've painted from that iconic rusty color,
which isn't even the whole story up close to those
absolutely mind blowing features, Olympus mons Vallos, marineris the hints
of ancient water. It really does feel like Mars is
this beacon pulling our curiosity and our ambition. And as
you said, technology is moving fast. We've got missions like

(09:24):
NASA's Artemis aiming for the Moon and Mars SpaceX's Starship.
It feels closer than ever. The sources really drive home
that feeling, don't they. It's not really a question of
if we'll get humans to Mars anymore. It feels much
more like a question of when, and maybe the real
question for all of us to think about is what
will that future with humans on Mars actually mean for humanity?
What comes next?
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