Author: Frank Jacobs / Source: Big Think
- Earth is the third planet from the Sun, so our closest neighbor must be planet two or four, right?
- Wrong! Neither Venus nor Mars is the right answer.
- Three scientists ran the numbers. In this YouTube video, one of them explains why our nearest neighbor is… Mercury!
Did Musk pick the wrong planet to die on?
Image: upload.wikimedia.org
Elon Musk has said he wants to die on Mars.
By 2024, Elon Musk wants to land humans on Mars – the billionaire entrepreneur has said that he himself wants to go to the Red Planet, and even wants to die there (just not on impact, he quips). But has SpaceX chosen the wrong planet to colonize? If the plan was to pick the closest planet: yes indeed.
While Mars looms large in human culture and imagination, most scientific sources refer to Venus as the planet that’s the shortest distance away from Earth. NASA mentions Venus as our closest neighbor. But while it’s true that no other planet comes closer – the shortest approach is 0.28 AU (1) or 25 million miles…
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