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Jump3of 100 · 78 M km from Earth

Mars: the largest volcano in the Solar System

Mars has Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, and a moon that is falling onto it. Curious facts about Mars with sources.

Reddish Mars with the Valles Marineris canyon across it, in a mosaic from the Viking orbiters
Image: NASA/JPL/USGS · original

Curious facts

  1. The largest volcano in the Solar System

    Mars has Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the Solar System. It is a gently sloping shield volcano: its base covers an area the size of the state of Arizona and its summit rises far above Everest’s 8,848 m. 1

  2. Its moon is falling onto it

    Phobos, the larger of its two moons, gets about 1.8 metres closer to Mars every century. In about 50 million years it will crash into the planet or break up into a ring. 2

  3. A moon that rises in the west

    From the ground on Mars, Phobos rises in the west and sets in the east, twice every Martian day: it circles the planet in 7 hours and 39 minutes, faster than Mars spins. 34

Mars in Orbit

In the game, Mars is jump 3 of the route, 78 M km from Earth. Its logbook card says:

Logbook · Jump 3

Home to Olympus Mons, the Solar System's largest volcano

I want to try Orbit Already in the group: download

Two steps with the Google account you use on Play: join the group, then download the test. Google Play can take a while, sometimes more than an hour, before it lets you download it; if you see “Item not found”, wait and try again.

What Orbit is like

Sources

  1. NASA, Mars Facts. science.nasa.gov/mars/facts
  2. NASA, Phobos. science.nasa.gov/mars/moons/phobos
  3. NASA Photojournal, PIA06339. science.nasa.gov/photojournal/two-moons-and-the-pleiades-from-mars
  4. NASA APOD, 22 March 2024. science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2024-march-22-phobos-moon-over-mars

Checked between 8 and 11 October 2026.

Image: NASA/JPL/USGS · original