Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our Solar System. It starts with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and finally Mars. Venus is larger than Mercury, and Earth is larger than Venus. If the pattern were to hold, we'd expect Mars to be larger than Earth. But it isn't. Mars is larger than Mercury, but smaller than both Venus and Earth. Determining how the Solar System formed is a big area of research in astronomy and recent findings suggest Mars would have been much larger had it not been for the outer gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).
THE GIANT PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM STUNTED THE GROWTH OF MARS
Very interesting! The article states that Mars would likely have been about as big as the Earth if it weren't for the outer planets. Thus it would have retained a magnetic field, atmosphere, and might have still been habitable to life. A larger mass is needed to keep a magnetic field for a longer period of time and retain a thicker atmosphere. Damn those outer planets! LOL!
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