For many years NASA has been dedicated to developing knowledge with the red planet, Mars. Many missions have been conducted by NASA to learn about Mars. Some aims of these missions have been carried out to learn about whether water exists on this planet, or whether life can survive under its harsh conditions. Through its researches on the red planet, NASA has been developing ways to build a future for the people of the world.
             NASA, which stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, began in the year 1958 on October 1, as a result of the Sputnik crisis of confidence. Throughout the years since its starts, NASA has been making history through such space and technological achievements as putting a man on the moon, through aeronautics, space science, and space applications.
             Out of all the planets in the solar system, Mars resembles the Earth more than any other planet. This closeness between these two planets is a reason for NASA's high interest toward Mars. Comparisons between Earth and Mars include the average distance from the sun; Mars is 142 million miles from the sun, less than twice of the Earth's distance from the sun, 93 million miles. The Earth's diameter is just a few thousand more miles greater in diameter than Mars; the Earth's being 7, 926 miles while Mars has 4, 220. The length of the years differ greatly between the two in the length of years, the Earth has 365 days while Mars takes 687 Earth days to orbit the sun. Since Mars is further than Earth from the sun, the temperatures differ also. Mars' temperature averages -81 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Earth's average temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Mars and Earth seem to have large differences but Earth would have much larger differences if compared to any other planet.
             There have been several missions performed by NASA in search of discovering new details about Mars. One of these missions includes the Mariner 9 mission, launched on May 1971. The ob...