Mercury

Why is Mercury so difficult to explore and study?

• It is so close to the Sun

• The speeds spacecraft get to on approach are so great, it is very difficult to get into orbit around Mercury

• None of these

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

What did Messenger have to do in order to slow down enough to explore Mercury?

• Use retro-thrusters

• Use the Sun's gravity

• Use other Earth's, Venus' and Mercury's gravitational pull

• Solar parachutes

Tags

NGSS.HS-ESS1-4

NGSS.HS-PS2-4

What was Messenger's main mission?

• Mapping the surface

• Just to prove it's possible study Mercury

• Take photos of Venus as it flew past it

• Touch the Sun

If most of Mercury's crust and mantle were stripped away from the collision, what was left over?

• Nothing

• More mantle

• Its core

How did Messenger's mission end?

• It came back to Earth

• It crashed into the Sun

• It crashed into Mercury