A journey to the closest planet to the sun

How much do we really know about Mercury? Professor David Rothery shares what he’s learned as part of his role in the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury that is launching in autumn 2018. He shared what we know about the closest planet to the sun and what knowledge we hope this mission will help us learn. David is Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University, based in Milton Keynes, where he teaches about planets, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and geology in general. Although he loves the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, he has been part of the team for the mission to Mercury since 2006. Using NASA data, he is currently working with his PhD students and his European counterparts to prepare geological maps of Mercury to set the context for BepiColombo’s observations This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx