Colonization of the inner Solar System Colonization of the inner Solar System Bodies in the inner Solar System have been considered for terraforming and space colonization. The main candidates for colonization in the inner Solar System are Mars and Venus. Other possible candidates for colonization include the Moon and even Mercury. The short distance between the Earth and the Moon makes it a natural expansion after Earth. A number of government space agencies have periodically floated lunar plans such as Russia (2014), China (2012) and the US have made plans in constructing the first lunar outpost. The European Space Agency (ESA) head Jan Woerner has proposed
Formation and evolution of the Solar System astronomy, physics, geology, and planetary science. Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s and the discovery of extrasolar planets in the 1990s, the model has been both challenged and refined to account for new observations. The Solar System has evolved considerably since its initial formation. Many moons have formed from circling discs of gas and dust around their parent planets, while other moons are thought to have formed independently and later been captured by their planets. Still others, such as Earth's Moon, may be the result of giant collisions. Collisions between bodies have occurred continually up to