Is Mercury our best hope for colonisation? Once seen as a cold, dead little world, it is now emerging as an exciting alternative to Mars and the Moon.
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Triumph as space probe reaches Mercury
Is Mercury our best hope for colonisation? Once seen as a cold, dead little world, it is now emerging as an exciting alternative to Mars and the Moon.
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What's happening?
We will soon know a lot more about the smallest planet in our solar system.
On Friday night, the BepiColombo zoomed past Mercury. It sent past pictures of the tiny planet.
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Catching a planet is not easy. Mercury is named after the speedy Roman god of messengers. It moves at over 100,000 mph.
And it is a weird place. A day is the same length as 55 Earth days. There is almost no atmosphere. It can reach as cold as -180C. Top temperatures reach 450C.
Some experts think Mercury is an ancient world. There are volcanoes and gases that could hold the key to life.
Most plans for humans living in space aim for the Moon and Mars. But both goals have challenges. Lunar dust is as sharp as glass and dangerous. The air on Mars is freezing cold and poisonous. There was once water on Mars, but not anymore.
Meanwhile, Mercury has water in its atmosphere and in parts of the ground. Scientist Jeffrey Kargel says life there "might be nuts, but it's not completely nuts."
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Is Mercury our best hope for colonisation?
Some say
No! Mercury is dangerous. It has crazy weather. It is too close to the Sun. Because there is no atmosphere, we would have no protection!
Others think
Yes! Mercury should give us hope. It has precious minerals and lots of solar energy. We could use it for mining and building spaceships.
Triumph as space probe reaches Mercury
Different minerals appear in a rainbow of colors in this image of Mercury from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft © NASA