MERCURY
Good morning, he called. Is anyone listening; he called again.
He also had a nice name: “Mercury”. But no one was shouting. Not even a small moon revolved around it. So that there is someone to say “Good morning” in the morning and “Good night” in the evening.
Nothing. All alone in the black universe. Venus and the Sun are only close to him. Close; Venus is 50,300,000 kilometers away from Mercury. The Sun on the other hand is 50,000,000 kilometers away. Venus and the Sun are very close!
321 Nefeli: Good morning Mercury.
98 Ianthi: Good morning Mercury.
Adrianos: Shall I also say ‘good morning’ to you?
Mercury: There are some days when I want to share my fears with someone who understands and trusts me. These fears are very serious and big. Hard to face them all alone. A warm hug full of love often helps to gain courage.
Mercury: Listen to my problem: the Sun can grow very large and become a red giant. Then it will swallow the planets closest to it. I will be the first to swallow. I heard that this can be done in 5,000,000,000 years. The Earth probably won’t swallow it. And it won’t get any hotter. It will only get bigger and redder.
I usually think 5,000,000,000 years is too long. No one knows, nor can they predict everything that can happen in all these years.
A meteorite suddenly fell on Earth without any warning and all the dinosaurs died. It is very difficult to know exactly what will happen and when. These are the surprises of life. That’s why it’s interesting and it’s cool.
Several times I think like this and my fear passes. Other times, I am very afraid and sad.
Good thing there are also those comets, asteroids, dead satellites and other junk. On their way to the Sun they pass by and say hello to me. It doesn’t bother me that they often lose their way and fall on top of me. Better. They make a little fuss in this irritating silence and I hear them. It does not bother me. They decorate me with beautiful craters. These conflicts make me laugh a lot. I also have something and I play.
I’m thinking that all those dead satellites from Earth must be coming. As soon as they stop paying attention, they lose their way around the Earth and start heading straight for the Sun. The result is that they fall into it and burn. Good thing they don’t fall on the head of any earthling. There is always the fear that if this happens, it will automatically lead to a major war. Nobody wants that, though. Imagine if a satellite of country X falls on the head of a person from country Y. Won’t country Y start a war against country X? It sounds reasonable.
Is it really better that Mercury is left alone?
Venus doesn’t have a moon either. Earth has only one, the Moon, and Mars has two, Phobos and Dimos. Jupiter and Saturn each have about 62 moons. The most distant planets, Uranus and Neptune, also have about 5-15 moons each. Mercury and Venus have nothing.
But what can all these moons do to you? Do you think you have time to talk about everything? And what to tell them? With 62 moons you don’t have any time to stop and listen to your own words and your heartbeat.
I get it, it’s very charming to be different and unique (along with Venus), but I’m jealous. I also feel enormous insecurity, dread and anxiety. I wanted to have some moon revolving around me too. If only I had one, like the Earth.
I do not believe that this jealousy can harm me, you spiteful man. Are you saying I should go steal the Moon from Earth and make it revolve around me? If I steal the Moon from the Earth it won’t be because I want the Moon to revolve around me. Simply, since I don’t have a moon, the Earth shouldn’t either.
What to do;
Mercury continues the complaint:
But they never do what I say. They are all over the head. They never listen to me. How bad is that too! I told them I have a lot of iron. Very much. They don’t have to go anywhere else to find. Only I can give them all the iron they need to make swords, shields, helmets and whatever else they want.
I’m so angry, Mercury shouts. Nobody does what I say. But why do they go elsewhere to find iron? Isn’t mine the best?
Hermes has a huge anger. He thinks that by the earthlings taking iron for their weapons from elsewhere they make him and lose his prestige. Losing its value, perhaps? Is he being stripped of the right to have everything under his control? For example, who controls how many swords are made? Isn’t it the iron supplier’s job to know and check?
Having said that, I alone have the best iron in the entire solar system. Don’t tell the whole Galaxy.
It is difficult to convince Mercury that he is right or wrong when he is in this state. Is there any reason to convince him?
Mercury continues to speak:
“How satisfied I feel! Little by little the world is realizing my importance and sending me machines to study me in detail.
I also want to know how it happened and I have so much iron. I’m so close to the Sun and I don’t get hurt. Possible; Do not believe! Something is bound to happen since I’m so close to a heat source. And the other, why is my orbit around the Sun not circular, like the orbits of the other planets? Great questions begging for answers.”
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) new satellite, Bepi Colombo, launched from French Guiana in October 2018 will provide many answers. It will reach Mercury in 2025 and begin studies. But who will be satisfied if answers are found? Will Mercury be satisfied at all? Or since he is a small rock that will swallow him and the Sun in 5,000,000,000 years we ignore him completely? But why do we go to the trouble of sending expensive machines so far from Earth?
Is it better to take care of the Earth first?
98 Ianthi: How right Hermes is! I understand his anxieties very well.
431 Nefeli: Me too. It doesn’t even have a moon, it’s the closest planet to the Sun and it must be very hot there.
98 Ianthi: The Sun will swallow him when he becomes a red giant. What a shame.
Adrianos: Girls, what you say is so true. But you understand that it is very difficult to send a satellite from Earth to Mercury and to ‘land’ on Mercury.
431 Nefeli: Is Mercury far from Earth?
Adrianos: It’s about 90 million kilometers away.
98 Ianthi: It is very close to the Sun which has a very strong gravitational field and attracts everything to it.
Adrianos: A satellite going to Mercury needs to consume more fuel than a satellite going outside our solar system. This happens because it has to consume more fuel in order not to fall into the Sun and burn up. It was a satellite that successfully reached Mercury in 1975, Mariner 10, but ran out of fuel. We now believe that it is still orbiting the Sun without communicating with Earth at all.
431 Nefeli: I have also noticed what you are saying, Adriane. It is much easier to come from our home, which is in the asteroid belt, to Earth.
98 Ianthi: We have to make a lot more effort when we want to return from Earth to our home, like now when I’m sleepy and want to go to sleep.
Adrianos: Not to keep you girls on Earth any longer. Have a nice trip and a good night.