A large impact crater in the Argyre Basin

While martian landscapes may remind us of Earthly deserts, Mars is in fact much colder and dryer than the Earth. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is so low as to be about the same as the pressure at 100,000 feet above the Earth--much too low for a human visitor to survive without oxygen and a pressurized space suit. Typical summer temperatures near the martian equator range from 10º F during the day to minus 105º F at night.