Portal:Solar System/Did you know/2

...that the European and Japanese collaborative BepiColombo (pictured) mission is planned to be the first extensive mission to Mercury since Mariner 10?
...that the Solar Sentinels, a NASA spacecraft designed to study the Sun, will have to survive at distances from the Sun only one-quarter of Earth's distance?
...that just over 50 kilometres above its surface, the atmosphere of Venus has very similar pressure and temperature as does Earth, making it the most Earth-like area in the solar system?
...that NASA conducts field trials, called Desert RATS, for new technologies for manned exploration of the surface of the Moon, Mars, or beyond?