Vasvi declared that she wanted to go to Mars, and I had to decode a lot of things for her to explain the differences between San Francisco and where she wants to go. The best way to overcome challenges is to face them and start thinking about how this generation needs to prepare.
| Feature | Simple Speak |
| Gravity (3.71 m/s2) | You’ll walk as if you’re light-hopping, you’ll weigh only 1/3rd; Jumping from a rock will feel slow motion (you’ll take about thrice as more time to fall) |
| Diameter (6794 km) | Will take half the time to get around Mars, map scales will be larger |
| Sun’s luminosity (40%) | Brightest days will look like very early mornings |
| Atmospheric Pressure (600 Pa) | Water will boil at about 0 degrees C, right where it freezes here on Earth (see this table) |
| Temperature (-60C) | Really cold as compared to most of earth |
| Two Moons | As fascinating as this sounds, these are really very small rocks around Mars, as compared to our moon and have minimal effect on Mars. In reality, you can’t see a large moon on Mars (its pretty empty). |
| Orbital Period (687 Days) | Summers will last about 6 months, and every other season will be longer than here. Calendars will have longer months and longer years there. |
| Life (unknown) | There are no trees, no bees, no butterflies, no birds and no flowers. Its pretty empty from a living creature perspective. |
To a child’s mind, the differences are not as extraordinary as it is to adults. They are still linking to what is supposedly normal.
is a photograph (credits to Hemant Hariyani) taken during a lunar eclipse. Besides being a very beautiful sight, there’s a curious orange tinge on the lower left quadrant of the moon. My curiosity lead to the 