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Hi. Are you Mr. Levine?

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Yes, I am. And you must be the treehouse detectives.

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I understand you want to learn more about planet Mars.

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That's right. We're designing a habitat that will sustain life on Mars.

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So we figured we needed to learn more about the red planet.

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Well, you've come to the right place.

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Mars is a very inhospitable planet, and you must be prepared.

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What's it like on Mars?

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Let's take a look.

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Mars is a very different planet than the Earth.

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No trees, no flowers, no animals.

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Mars is a very desolate planet.

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Why do they call it the red planet?

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The surface of Mars contains large amounts of rusty iron that give Mars its reddish color.

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In addition, strong winds blow surface material up in the atmosphere, giving the atmosphere a reddish-pink color.

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Does Mars have land features like Earth?

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Yes, Mars has lowlands, mountainous highlands.

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Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system, and Mars has the longest canyon in the solar system.

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I've seen the Grand Canyon here on Earth, and it was pretty big.

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Oh, it's far bigger than the Grand Canyon.

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Marineris Valley on Mars is about 3,000 miles long, about the same distance as the trip from New York to Los Angeles.

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What kind of atmosphere does Mars have?

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The atmosphere of Mars is very thin, it's cold, and it's dry.

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The atmosphere of Mars is only about 1,200th the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere.

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Is there oxygen like here on Earth?

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No. In fact, the atmosphere of Mars is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, and 2% argon.

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We'll definitely need to bring our own oxygen.

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How do we know so much about Mars?

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Over the last 30 years, NASA has sent a number of spacecraft to Mars to study the planet.

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Here at the NASA Langley Research Center, we're looking into the possibility of sending the first robotic airplane to Mars.

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That would be so cool.

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Would you like to see what our plane will look like flying through the atmosphere of Mars?

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That would be great.

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Check this out.

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Wow.

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Thanks, Dr. Levine.

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You've given us a lot to consider about our habit.

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You're welcome. Anytime.