Olympics on Mars? Neil deGrasse Tyson Imagines and Explains

With a robotic emissary from Earth speeding towards the red planet for a rendezvous Sunday, an eminent scientist took to Twitter to imagine the Olympics on Mars.

"The #MarsScienceLaboratory arrives at the RedPlanet in the middle of the #Olympics back here on Earth. Hmmm...How about a Mars #Olympics? Yes, all athletes would suffocate. Ignoring that complication -- way cooler than Earth #Olympics," wrote Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium and Startalk Radio host, on Thursday.

Below are some of the events re-imagined. Have some of your own? Hit us in the comments.

If there was Swimming on Mars, the low temperature & low air pressure would force the pool to simultaneously freeze & boil.

If there was Cycling on Mars, try Olympus Mons -- a volcanic mountain 5x taller than Mont Blanc in the Alps.

Like to Kayak white waters? Valles Marineris on Mars is nearly 10x the length of Arizona's Grand Canyon.

With 1% of Earth's air density, Badminton on Mars would be different -- a shuttlecock to the face lands you in the hospital.

Rowing on Mars would log about the same race times. There's hardly any movement with or against the 62% lower gravity there.

Women's BeachVolleyball on Mars: No protective ozone layer there. Solar UV would irradiate all exposed legs, buns, & tummies

Gymnastics: On Mars, with only 38% of Earth's gravity, the Vault & other spring-assisted leaps would resemble circus cannons.

Weightlifters, whose sole job is to raise barbells from planets that attracts them, on Mars achieve 2.6x their personal bests