Mercury rover tagged posts

A Mercury rover could explore the planet by sticking to the Terminator

A view of Mercury's Terminator region, as seen by NASA's MESSENGER probe. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A view of Mercury’s Terminator region, as seen by NASA’s MESSENGER probe. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The closest planet to our sun, Mercury, experiences extreme temperature variations. Since the planet has no atmosphere to speak of, it is in a constant cycle where one side is extremely hot and the other extremely cold. On the sun-facing side, temperatures reach a scorching 427°C (800°F), enough to melt tin and lead, and the surface is exposed to extremely lethal levels of radiation. On the night side, temperatures plunge)] to a chilling −173°C (-279.4°F), cold enough to freeze most liquids, including those used in battery manufacturing.

All of this makes exploring Mercury’s surface very challenging...

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