All About Planet Mercury

• Mercury was formed 4.5 billion years ago as gravity pulled gas and dust together.
• It is the planet closest to the Sun.
• Mercury, a terrestrial planet, has a central core, a rocky mantle, and a solid crust.
• Mercury is named after the Roman God of travel and is also known as Hermes, the Greek messenger god.

Characteristics

• Mercury is the smallest planet in our Solar System
• Mercury is a little bigger than Earth's Moon.
• It is the closest planet to the Sun, although Venus is hotter.
• Mercury has a solid surface with many craters like the Earth's Moon.
• Craters were formed early in the solar system's history due to collisions with meteoroids, comets, and asteroids.
• Mercury's surface appears greyish-brown.
• "Crater rays" are bright streaks formed when an asteroid or comet strikes the surface.
• Surface temperatures can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius) during the day.
• Nighttime temperatures can drop to minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius) due to a lack of atmosphere.
• Water ice is possible in deep craters at the north and south poles, in permanently shadowed regions.
• It travels through space at nearly 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second, making it the fastest planet.
• Mercury has the shortest year of all the planets in our solar system at 88 days.
• One rotation takes 59 Earth days
• A year on Mercury takes only 88 Earth days

Missions to mercury

• Two NASA missions have explored Mercury.

Mariner 10

• Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to fly by Mercury.
• It also studied Venus and used Venus' gravity to change its speed and trajectory to reach Mercury.

MESSENGER

• MESSENGER was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
• It discovered large amounts of water in Mercury's exosphere.
• The spacecraft orbited Mercury for more than four years.
• The mission determined Mercury’s surface composition and geological history
• It discovered details about its internal magnetic field.
• Polar deposits were verified to be dominantly water-ice.
• The mission ended when MESSENGER impacted Mercury’s surface.

BepiColombo

• Launched in October 2018 and is scheduled to begin orbiting Mercury in 2025.
• It is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and JAXA.
• BepiColombo consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MIO).
• ESA built the Mercury Planetary Orbiter.
• JAXA supplied the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter.
• ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) will study the planet's surface and interior.
• JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MIO) will study the planet's magnetic field.
• These are the first Mercury missions for the ESA and Japan.