As far as we know, Earth is the only place in our solar system
where humans can survive without a spacesuit.
So if we ventured outside the cushy confines of our home,
how long would we live on the other planets?
Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is actually not the hottest of the bunch,
but it does have the most extreme variation of temperatures.
Scientists once believed Mercury was tidally locked - meaning only one side of the planet
faced the Sun which explains why one side is so hot while the other is so cold.
But Mercury does rotate, just incredibly slow.
At its current rotational velocity, it takes about 176 Earth days to experience
one Mercurian day-night cycle.
But you wouldn’t make it to the next day because you would die in about two minutes
due to freezing or burning up.
Mercury’s neighbor, Venus, is often thought of as Earth’s twin sister because of the
planets’ similar size and composition.
But, the grass isn’t greener on the other side because well there is no grass at all.
The planet’s atmosphere, composed mainly of thick carbon dioxide, traps the Sun’s
heat causing scorching surface temperatures higher than 470 degrees Celsius.
The excess amount of CO2 molecules scatter the Sun’s light, staining the sky a reddish orange.
You better take in that unusual view real fast because it’s the last thing you’ll
see since Venus will vaporize you in less than one second.
Mars is the hottest contender for humanity’s future home, and living there will literally
take your breath away.
Despite its flaming red color, Mars is not hot.
The average annual temperature is minus 60 degrees celsius with a low of minus 153 degrees.
The Red Planet’s barely there air will have you begging for a breath, and silicate dust
will begin to cloud your lungs.
Within about two minutes Mars’s low atmospheric pressure will cause your organs to rupture
resulting in a quick but painful death.
Jupiter is nice to look at but if you touch it, you'll die.
As far as we know, the gas giant has no surface, so your body will descend through cloud-like
layers of mostly hydrogen and helium.
As you fall deeper, temperature and pressure will rise.
But you won’t feel anything because the pressure killed you less than one second after arriving on the planet.
Saturn is another work of universal art.
Driving across those rings would be like Rainbow Road in real life.
Except not at all because Saturn’s rings aren’t solid.
They’re made up of billions of particles that range in size
and are almost entirely water ice.
And you likely won’t find solid ground on the planet itself.
Like Jupiter, the gassy composition of Saturn would swallow your lifeless body faster than
the tick of a clock.
Uranus and Neptune don’t offer any hope of survival either.
And you’d likely die of boredom on the way there,
considering the billions of kilometers of travel anyway.
The ice giants are made up of mostly swirling fluids, but they get their blue hues from
methane gas in their atmospheres, which would cause you to suffocate.
On top of the toxic gas, the extreme temperatures on both planets
would contribute to a nearly instant death.
We are pretty lucky to live on Earth.
Our planet’s proximity to the Sun enables water to exist in liquid form, regulates temperatures
and provides energy for photosynthesis.
Earth’s atmosphere has a perfect mix of gases that allow us to breath and the planet’s
relatively stable magnetic field keeps solar storms from frying us to a crisp.
So, be thankful for our planet and treat her well, because no one wants to spend their
entire life in a spacesuit.
Space Crafts takes you through the depths of the cosmos, explaining bizarre astronomical
phenomena and crazy plans for future exploration.
Check out other episodes like this one about the quest for finding the mysterious Planet Nine.
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