... While the average temperature on Mars is about 218 K (-55 C, -67 F), Martian surface temperatures range widely from as little as 140 K (-133 C, -207 F) at the winter pole to almost 300 K (27 C, 80 F) on the day side during summer. T hough Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth. ... T he Viking landers performed experiments to determine the existence of life on Mars. ... The Viking probes found little evidence of life on Mars. ...