| Summary: | The exploration of Mercury has taken only a minor role in the space interests of the world. It is the least explored inner planet. As of 2008, the Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions have been the only missions that have made close observations of Mercury. MESSENGER made a fly-by of Mercury on 14 January 2008, to further investigate the observations made by Mariner 10 in 1975. A third mission to Mercury, BepiColombo, is to include two probes. BepiColombo is a joint mission between Japan and the European Space Agency MESSENGER and BepiColombo are intended to gather complementary data to help scientists understand many of the mysteries discovered by Mariner 10's flybys. Compared to other planets, Mercury is difficult to explore. The increased speed required to reach it is relatively high, and due to the proximity to the Sun, orbits around it are rather unstable. Mercury has not been a primary focus of many space programs because the planet has had little to offer. Since the planet is so close to the Sun and spins on its own axis very slowly its surface temperature varies from 427 °C (801 °F) to -173 °C (-279 °F). There is discussion of the possibility of terraforming Mercury and inhabiting the poles of the-planet, but this possibility lies far in the future, being significantly less practical than terraforming Mars . The current interest in Mercury is derived from the unexpected observations of Mariner 10. Before Mariner 10, it was thought that the planet simply revolved around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit.
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