So you don't wanna go to Mercury? Eh?
May 12, 2019 16:22:23 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on May 12, 2019 16:22:23 GMT -5
So you don't wanna go to Mercury? Eh?
Seems like a rather weird question doesn't it? Why would anyone want to visit Mercury in the first place? After all, Mercury seems like a barren, useless planet resembling our moon. Even worse, Mercury's distance from the sun, a mere 32 million miles as opposed to our 98 million for our Earth, makes it the the nearest planet to the sun’s churning surface. Which means that it reaches temperatures in the 400 plus Fahrenheit area. To make matters worse, Mercury has almost no atmosphere or magnetic field to shield it from the sun’s death-dealing radiation. So exactly what incentive could we as explorers of our solar system possibly have to justify such a manned seemingly scatterbrained mission?
First, let’s dispel the popular notion that Mercury can’t be colonized because of the heat. The truth is, that even though Mercury is closer to our sun than Venus, Venus is much hotter by hundreds of degrees. In fact, unlike Venus whose temperature is uniform all over its surface regardless of night-side or day-side due to atmospheric convection, Mercury’s axial tilt provides it with permanently shaded polar regions in which even ice is believed to have been detected.
In the northern region, a number of craters were observed by NASA’s MESSENGER probe in 2012 which confirmed the existence of water ice and organic molecules. Scientists believe that Mercury’s southern pole may also have ice, and claim that an estimated 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of water ice could exist at both poles, which could be up to 20 meters or sixty feet thick in places.
www.universetoday.com/130109/how-do-we-colonize-mercury
www.universetoday.com/130109/how-do-we-colonize-mercury
"So what?" you dare say? Well, for one, such an abundant amount of ice can serve for drinking purposes and for irrigation of plants within a domes. Also, oxygen can be produced from this water via photolysis, the breakdown of water into hydrogen and oxygen via bringing the water into contact with electricity. As for the temperature, there are also indications that Mercury might have lava tubes just as our moon does. This means that they could be employed as underground habitats which provide protection from the surface radiation, and also help to insulate against the cold.
Furthermore, Mercury, unlike the Moon and Venus, is incredibly minerally-rich which means it can be mined for a profit. After all, it is also much closer to Earth than the minerally-rich asteroid belt,. a comparatively shorter distance of 35 million miles, making access much easier.
Also, unlike our moon and the asteroids, Mercury poses less of a health-hazards since it has twice the gravity of the Moon and far greater gravity than the asteroids. It can also provide abundant Solar energy beamed back to Earth and to other cold, distant planets as microwaves by using solar panels arrays.
Mercury, unlike our moon, has a self-generated weak magnetic field which interacts with the solar wind and produces a dazzling display of light variations. No, it isn't necessary for survival, but it does provide a visual relaxation for those there who might want to contemplate it. You know, just as people enjoy contemplating the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights on Earth.
Still don't wanna go? Is it an easy thing to do? Of course not. But neither is mining the asteroid belt or establishing a moon base and yet both are being considered as viable. So do you still wanna stay clear of Merc? Eh?
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Furthermore, Mercury, unlike the Moon and Venus, is incredibly minerally-rich which means it can be mined for a profit. After all, it is also much closer to Earth than the minerally-rich asteroid belt,. a comparatively shorter distance of 35 million miles, making access much easier.
Also, unlike our moon and the asteroids, Mercury poses less of a health-hazards since it has twice the gravity of the Moon and far greater gravity than the asteroids. It can also provide abundant Solar energy beamed back to Earth and to other cold, distant planets as microwaves by using solar panels arrays.
Mercury, unlike our moon, has a self-generated weak magnetic field which interacts with the solar wind and produces a dazzling display of light variations. No, it isn't necessary for survival, but it does provide a visual relaxation for those there who might want to contemplate it. You know, just as people enjoy contemplating the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights on Earth.
Still don't wanna go? Is it an easy thing to do? Of course not. But neither is mining the asteroid belt or establishing a moon base and yet both are being considered as viable. So do you still wanna stay clear of Merc? Eh?
.