| Understanding Mercury and the forces that shaped the planet is fundamental to understanding the terrestrial planets and their evolution. |
| A key issue in astrobiology is to understand the processes responsible for the geological and geophysical evolution of terrestrial planets. |
| Plains relatively flat or smoothly undulating surfaces are ubiquitous on Mercury and the other terrestrial planets. |
| Moving beyond the Earth to the other terrestrial planets, we find that the rocks there are also dominantly silicates. |
| From the evidence found on the Moon, geophysicists can extrapolate a picture of the early history of the four terrestrial planets. |
| The terrestrial planets in our solar system all have very specific spectroscopic fingerprints that tell us quite a bit about their atmospheres. |
