Planning a holiday to Mars? Don't forget to check the weather!

Planning a holiday to Mars? Don't forget to check the weather!
Copyright NASA
Copyright NASA
By Rachael Kennedy
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NASA has launched a daily weather report from the surface of Mars, and February's maximum temperatures might not be as chilly as you think.

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What's the weather like on Mars right now?

With NASA's recently-launched daily weather report, you can now find out.

Temperatures on the red planet reached sizzling highs of -10 degrees Celsius last week, while some temperatures recorded were warmer than parts of Europe.

NASA recorded a maximum temperature of -17 degrees Celsius on "Sol 81" — the name for the Martian day, which was Sunday on Earth.

Longyearbyen in Norway, however, only reached a high of -21 degrees Celsius on the same day.

But don't be fooled by these maximum temperatures as Mars' average temperature throughout last week remained firmly around -60 degrees Celsius, due to whopping low temperatures recorded in the -90s.

'Sense of visiting an alien place'

The data for the weather report is being collated and sent to Earth via NASA's InSight lander, which records the data every second sol.

Scientists plan to keep the lander operating for the next two Earth years in order to monitor potential changes in seasons.

"It gives you the sense of visiting an alien place," Don Banfield, the InSight weather science lead said. "Mars has familiar atmospheric phenomena that are still quite different than those on Earth."

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