FAQ

A common misconception. Although it is true that Mars appears quite red as seen from outer space, this is due to large amounts of dust in the atmosphere. While standing on the surface, however, Mars would appear to be a more butterscotch yellow than red, according to experts. The reason why early photographs of Mars' surface (as taken by probes) appear red is because those pictures were taken in greyscale (essentially black and white), and later colour-corrected with the (wrong) assumption that the major colour would be red.