LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mars
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The first successful fly-by mission to Mars was NASA's Mariner 4, launched in 1964. The first successful objects to land on the surface were two Soviet probes, Mars 2 and Mars 3 from the Mars probe program, launched in 1971, but both lost contact within seconds of landing. Then came the 1975 NASA launches of the Viking program, which consisted of two orbiters, each having a lander; both landers successfully touched down in 1976 and remained operational for 6 and 3 years, for Viking 1 and Viking 2 respectively. The Viking landers relayed the first color pictures of Mars[71] and ... mapped the surface of Mars so well that the images are still sometimes used to this day. The Soviet probes Phobos 1 and 2 were sent to Mars in 1988 to study Mars and its two moons, unfortunately Phobos 1 lost contact on the way to Mars, and Phobos 2, while successfully photographing Mars and Phobos, failed just before it was set to release two landers on Phobos's surface.
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The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos (fear and terror) are named after the horses that pulled the chariot of the god of war in ancient Greek mythology. Both moons are orbiting extremely close to the planet, so close an observer at the poles of Mars would not be able to see them. Phobos completes a full orbit of the planet in less than eight hours, and is getting closer to the surface of Mars every time. Tidal interactions with the planet are causing the moon to lose energy, and it is slowly spiralling inwards towards destruction. Scientists predict that in about 100 million years time it will either be ripped apart by the gravitational interaction or spiral inwards and collide with the Martian surface.
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During periods of opposition (the next of which is in early 2001), Mars can have an angular diameter of up to 25 arc seconds. While your eyes alone can't resolve this, they should be able to see the planet's disk through a small telescope (several inches or more) with good optics. Seeing more features than this is very difficult; don't expect the view through a small telescope to look like the pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. However, many amateur astronomers have seen and/or imaged prominent features such as Syrtis Major, a large dark region on Mars.
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If Mars had an Earth-like orbit, its seasons would be similar to Earth's because its axial tilt is similar to Earth's. However, the comparatively large eccentricity of the Martian orbit has a significant effect. Mars is near perihelion when it is summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the north, and near aphelion when it is winter in the southern hemisphere and summer in the north. As a result, the seasons in the southern hemisphere are more extreme and the seasons in the northern are milder than would otherwise be the case. The summer temperatures in the south can be up to 30 K (54 °F) warmer than the equivalent summer temperatures in the north.[49]
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled for launch in 2005. Two instruments being developed for it are HiRISE, a high resolution imager, and SHARAD, a shallow subsurface sounding radar. HiRISE will study the layering and structure of the martian surface. SHARAD will map subsurface geologic deposits and search for buried water ice.
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Two years following the unexplained disaster on Mars, the UAC returns to the abandoned facilities to investigate a mysterious beacon buried deep in the ruins of the ancient civilization. As a combat engineer, you fight for survival against an army of new demons and zombies, including Hell's own hunters. Use powerful new weapons like the classic double-barreled shotgun and the gravity defying "grabber," a device that can move, catch and throw objects or small enemies, as you battle through the onslaught of evil sent to hunt you down. Featuring new locations, puzzles and extraordinary powers like the ability to slow time, Resurrection of Evil will have players reloading for the bloodiest battle yet.
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