After a 10-month voyage, America's latest robot visitor to the Red Planet, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, has entered orbit around the rocky, rust-colored world, to study its upper atmosphere.

The planned one-year, $671-million science mission will help scientists better understand the hows and whys Mars ended up as inhospitable as it is to life as we know it.

There's actually a lot about the Red Planet that is known -- although members of the general public may not be as aware of those insights as much as they could.

Thanks to the RandomHistory.com Website, following are 24 facts about Mars that could help you impress the people around you, or not:

  1. The Egyptians bestowed the Red Planet with its first recorded name, Har dècher, which means "The red one." The Babylonians likewise called the planet Nergal, or "Star of death," while the Greeks and Romans both named the planet after their respective gods of war, Ares and Mars respectively. The Hebrews called it Ma'adim, or "One who blushes."
  2. Many ancient peoples believed the reddish color of Mars was caused by blood on the planet surface.
  3. March is named after Mars.
  4. Since the ancient Greeks believed Earth was the center of the universe, they assumed Mars was one of the five traveling stars that revolved around our planet.
  5. Mars' reddish color is a result of iron oxide, which is more commonly known as rust, and has the consistency of talcum powder. The metallic rocks on Mars are literally rusting.
  6. The present atmosphere on Mars is mainly made up of carbon dioxide and is so thin that water can only exist there as water vapor or ice, but not in liquid form
  7. No human could survive the low pressure of Mars -- meaning that if one arrived at Mars without an appropriate space suit, the oxygen in their blood would literally turn into bubbles and bring about immediate death.
  8. If you were driving 60 mph in a car, it would take 271 years and 221 days to get to Mars from Earth.
  9. Because Mars does not sport a blanket ozone layer like Earth does, the surface of the planet is bathed in a lethal dose of radiation every time the sun rises.
  10. Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our entire solar system, often with winds winds topping 125 mph. The storms can last for weeks and can cover the entire planet.
  11. Only one-third of the spacecraft sent to Mars have been successful.
  12. Mars has an enormous canyon named Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley), an amazing four miles deep and 2,500 miles long -- as long as the continental United States.
  13. Mars' crust is thicker than Earth's and comprises one piece, as compared to Earth's crust which consists of several moving tectonic plates.
  14. Although it is much colder on Mars than on Earth, the similar tilt of Earth's and Mars' axes means they have similar seasons -- although the seasons on Mars are twice as long as those on Earth because it takes Mars 687 days to orbit the sun, twice as long as Earth's 365-day trip.
  15. Mars has no magnetic field, indicating that it does not have a molten metal core, like Earth does, though there is evidence to suggest Mars once had a magnetic field.
  16. Mars gravity is 37.5 percent that of Earth.
  17. Mars is home to the highest peak in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which rises 15 miles high, or three times higher than Mt. Everest.
  18. The Mars 2 spacecraft, built by the former Soviet Union, was the first human-built object to touch down on Mars in November 1971. But, it crashed into the planet's surface during a giant dust storm.
  19. On July 20, 1976, the United States' Viking 1 was the first human spacecraft to land intact and operational on the surface of Mars.
  20. The unofficial names of many rocks on the surface of Mars include Barnacle Bill, Yogi, Pop-Tart, Shark, Half Dome, Moe, Stimpy, and Cabbage Patch and were chosen by scientists because they were convenient to remember.
  21. Only 12 Martian meteors are known to exist on the earth.
  22. Galileo Galilee was the first person to observe Mars through a telescope, in 1609.
  23. On Aug. 27, 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years. The next time it will be that close again will be in 2287.
  24. H.G. Wells' 1898 novel, "The War of the Worlds," portrays inhabitants of Mars as technologically advanced invaders who kill thousands of people in their attempt to take over the world. The story's radio theater adaptation by actor Orson Wells, broadcast in 1938, incited mass panic across the United States.