Real Mars Science Kids Learn from Rise of the Explorers

You think you know Mars? Yeah… no. Trust me, the real story is way weirder.

In Rise of the Explorers, my disaster-prone green buddy Marsus lives underground because the surface is “a doomed wasteland.” Sound familiar? That’s literally what Elder Voryn lectures in Chapter 1: thin air, vanished water, failed crops, ancestors slowly starving. Exactly what NASA tells us about real Mars right now.

But here’s the cool part: every single “made-up” science fact in the book is rooted in actual NASA research. While you watch the Artemis era astronauts going back to space, your kid can read the book and learn real Mars science that feels like pure adventure.

Low-gravity physics

Marsus’s anti-gravity boots (the hover-kicks he keeps glitching in class) are based on the fact that Mars gravity is only 38% of Earth’s. One wrong flip and… WHOOMP. Face-plant express straight into the stone floor. Kids will laugh their heads off while secretly learning why future Mars colonists will have to do special exercises every single day to keep their muscles strong and their bones from getting weak and brittle. (0.38g just isn’t enough to keep everything working the way it does here on Earth — so daily workouts become super important!)

Sols & Martian years

When Marsus is calculating how long he has before the Elders come looking for him, he thinks in sols (one Martian day = 24 hours and 37 minutes). Your kid will discover that a Martian year is almost twice as long as an Earth year…so a 10-year-old Earth kid would only be about 5½ in Martian years. The book sneaks in the fun math so kids can figure out how old they would be on Mars.

Making human drinking water

Marsus wants for his new Earth friends, astronauts Lily & Jake Carson, to stay with him on Mars forever. Except their one problem: water on Mars is no bueno for humans. Real Mars has huge ice caps and underground ice. The book shows how you’d melt that ice, filter out the toxic perchlorates, and turn it into safe drinking water. Exactly the kind of tech NASA is testing right now for future habitats.

Warming up the planet with orbital mirrors

Marsus’s big “what if we could fix Zyphora?” speech isn’t just wishful thinking. The book talks about giant orbital mirrors that could reflect extra sunlight onto the poles to release trapped CO₂ and start warming the planet. That’s a real terraforming idea scientists are studying! Your kid gets the science without realizing they’re learning about planetary engineering! (Sneaky right? 😏)

Growing plants in Martian soil

Marsus’s mom is the official “Mother of Plants,” the city’s bioengineer who creates brand-new vegetation species from toxic regolith, microbes, and space-level science. The book dives into real challenges like growing food in perchlorate-laced dirt, using hydroponics, and creating oxygen at the same time. Kids will want to try their own potato-growing experiment the second they finish the chapter.

Real Martian geography

When the human spaceship crashes, it doesn’t just land in “some red sand.” It’s right near the edge of an ancient lava tube (just like where Mokta Naru is hidden) with Olympus Mons towering in the distance (the tallest volcano in the solar system) and the massive canyon system of Valles Marineris ripping across the horizon. Every location name and landscape detail is pulled straight from real Mars maps. Your kid is basically getting a free Mars geography lesson wrapped in explosions, fun chaos and giggles.

The best part? None of it feels like homework. It feels like hanging out with the weirdest, funniest friends on Mars. But across the red horizon, something else is stirring. Spirit, a long-lost Martian rover gone rogue, who's convinced humans are a threat to Mars itself will stop at nothing to chase them off his planet.

Packed with humor, heart, and real Mars science facts, Rise of the Explorers is a laugh-out-loud, STEM-powered adventure that proves being different isn't a flaw. It's a superpower.

Want the free first chapter so you can see the science (and the explosions) for yourself? Grab it here 👇 https://www.marsusuniverse.com/freechapter