Explore Mars Challenge

Embark on a martian adventure right here on Earth

Ready to take your walking routine to interstellar heights? Download StepUp and register to join our College of Science team to track the miles you walk and see how your distance, and our team's distance, compares to the vast expanses of Mars. Tell us how you're doing using #MasonToMars on Instagram or X.

Register to participate

What's the Explore Mars Challenge?

Embark on an out-of-this-world adventure with the Explore Mars Challenge. Join us in a virtual journey to collectively walk the circumference of Mars—21,344 km (13,263 miles). Every step counts as we aim to match the Red Planet's circumference by tracking our daily steps, staying active, and encouraging each other to reach the final destination. All George Mason University members, including faculty, staff, and students are welcome to embark on this journey! Whether walking, jogging, or running, this challenge is all about fun, fitness, and teamwork. Let's take the first step together and see if we can make it around Mars! Stay tuned for group walking activities and events.

Show us your martian steps! Share your stellar photos with cosgrad@gmu.edu if you agree to our team sharing your photo here to all participants.

Martian Question of the Week

The official end of summer just passed (bummer). Swimming pools are officially closing for the season, but families are still enjoying the warm weather and swimming in the ocean at the beach. Is there any water on Mars?

Submit your answer

Where is our team currently at on the red planet?

It takes 13,300 miles to walk across Mars. How long will it take for Mason Science to walk across the red planet? Join the challenge to help us get there. Stay tuned for weekly updates on our progress.

Suggested walking routes on or around Mason

There are 2 designated trails on campus:

Yellow Birch Trail – 1.6 mile walking/running trail on the sidewalks around Patriot Circle
Red Dogwood Trail – 1.3 mile multi-purpose trail along Campus Drive

Explore more trails across Fairfax

Challenge leader, Erdal YiğitAssoicate Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Erdal Yiğit's research interests cover topics from atmospheric, space and planetary sciences, in particular, global modeling of and internal wave effects in planetary atmospheres, such as, Earth and Mars. He is the developer of the first whole atmosphere gravity wave parameterization suitable for general circulation models of planetary atmospheres. He is the recipient of the 2016 Zeldovich Medal jointly presented by COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences for his significant contributions to the study of coupling between the lower and upper atmospheres on Earth and Mars by gravity waves. He is the sole author of the Springer's two-volume monograph series on "Atmospheric and Space Sciences" one on Neutral atmospheres and the second on Ionospheres and Plasma Environments.

Exploring Mars in the 21st Century

Mars is the second most studied planet in the Solar System, owing to a number of planetary missions and progress in the understanding of planetary atmospheres and ionospheres. Mars has always fascinated humanity since the early ages. Yigit explores the history of Martian exploration, Martian atmosphere and ionosphere. With an axial tilt of 25.2°, which is relatively close to Earth’s 23.4°, Mars also has four seasons, but each is about twice as long as Earth’s. Its meteorology is extremely dynamic and is influenced by dust storms. Mars has amazing cloud structures as observed by rover. Can Mars become a second home to humanity one day?

MapsofMars — **Maps of Mars**, old and new. At top is an 1896 map of the Martian surface created by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli on the basis of observations he took in 1883–84. Because 19th-century telescopes produced inverted images, the map is flipped: The southern hemisphere of Mars is at the top. At bottom is the most complete topographic map of Mars available today. Generated in 2000, it is based on four and a half years of measurements taken by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, an instrument onboard the *Mars Global Surveyor*. Higher elevations are colored red to white; lower elevations, blue to black. The red planet’s two topographical extremes, Olympus Mons and Hellas Planitia, are marked on the map. (Top image courtesy of Giovanni Schiaparelli/public domain; bottom image adapted from the MOLA Science Team.)

Duststorm on Mars — **An upwelling front** of dust clouds near the north polar ice cap of Mars, captured by the European Space Agency’s *Mars Express* in April 2018. The imaged portion of the dust front is about 80 km long. (Courtesy of ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.)

Rover Images — **Images taken** by the *Curiosity* (top) and *Perseverance* (bottom) rovers in 2019 and 2023, respectively, capture cirrus-like cloud structures. (Top image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech; bottom image, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill.)

Martian Surface — **Two views** of the Martian surface. At top is the rim of Jezero Crater, as seen in the first 360° panoramic view taken by NASA’s *Perseverance* rover in February 2021. At bottom is a mosaic of images taken in 2012 at the Rocknest site by NASA’s *Curiosity* rover. (Top image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/ASU; bottom image, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems.)

Martian Clouds — **Early images** of Martian clouds. At left is the first image of clouds on Mars. Taken by the *Mars Pathfinder* lander in 1997, it depicts stratus water-ice clouds at an altitude of about 16 km. The “You are here” sign marks Earth’s position in the Martian sky at the time the image was taken. At right is an image of Mars captured by the *Hubble Space Telescope* in June 2001. Water-ice clouds exhibiting wavelike behavior are visible at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Seasonal dust activity can be seen near Hellas Planitia in the southern hemisphere at bottom right. (Left image courtesy of NASA/JPL/University of Arizona; right image, NASA/Hubble Heritage Team.)