What is the hottest temperature recorded on Mars?

Answer 1

The highest temperature ever recorded on Mars, in the shade, was 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) by NASA's Spirit rover.

As is the case on Earth but for a different reason, the highest temperatures on Mars do not occur on the Equator.

Midday temperatures on Mars are at their highest when the planet is closest to the Sun. Unlike Earth, Mars' distance from the Sun varies greatly through its year.

Mars has an axial tilt of 25.19 degrees which is close to Earth's 23.44 degrees. So as on the surface of Earth, on the surface of Mars where the Sun rises to become directly overhead at midday varies through the year, from 25.19 degrees North to 25.19 degrees South and latitudes inbetween according to the season.

Mars's closest approach to the sun is during the Martian Southern Hemisphere's late spring and therefore coincided with the Sun being directly overhead at midday on Nasa's Spirit rover's location, 14.5 degrees south of the Martian equator.

The Martian atmosphere is very thin so heat is lost very quickly and does not build up so unlike on Earth higher temperatures will not occur later in the year.