How fast does Mars rotate?

Short answer

Mars rotates on its axis in 24.6229 hours relative to the stars; its solar day, the Martian sol, lasts 24.6597 hours, slightly longer than Earth's. Its axis is tilted 25 degrees. Around the Sun it moves at an average of 24.08 km/s and takes 686.980 Earth days to complete one orbit.

Published: October 6, 2026 · Updated: October 6, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Carbon Dioxide Ice in the Late Summer Mars South Pole

An almost Earth-like day

Mars completes a spin on its axis in 24.6229 hours measured against the stars, and its solar day —the interval between two middays, which mission teams call a sol— lasts 24.6597 hours; NASA's outreach fact sheets round it to one rotation every 24.6 hours. That difference of just over half an hour compared to the Earth day seems small, but it forces rover mission controllers to shift their work schedule every day to stay in phase with the Martian surface.

Axis and seasons

Mars's rotation axis is tilted 25 degrees relative to the plane of its orbit, very close to Earth's 23.4 degrees. That's why the planet has clearly recognizable seasons, with polar caps that advance and retreat. What changes compared to our calendar is the duration, because the Martian year lasts 686.980 Earth days, equivalent to 669.6 sols or, in the agency's outreach figures, to 687 Earth days.

The other speed: orbital

Around the Sun, Mars moves at an average orbital speed of 24.08 km/s, slower than Earth's because it's farther from the Sun: its semi-major axis is 227.956 million kilometers, with an average distance of 228 million kilometers (142 million miles). Its orbit is also notably eccentric for an inner planet (0.0935), so the distance to the Sun varies noticeably over the Martian year, and with it the light and heat the surface receives.