Learn about Mars , the fourth planet from the Sun, and its features, history, and potential for life. Find out how Mars compares to Earth in size, distance, orbit, rotation, moons, rings, formation, structure, surface, and atmosphere. Mars Nearing Earth In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope snapped this photo of the red planet 11 hours before its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. How close? It was a mere 34,648,840 miles ... NASA’s real-time portal for Mars exploration, featuring the latest news, images, and discoveries from the Red Planet . Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun , orbiting at an average of 228 million kilometres away from the star. The planet moves at a speed of around 24 kilometres per second, making it slightly slower than Earth. It has an elliptical orbit, meaning it is egg- or oval-shaped.
