Geology of solar terrestrial planets of heavier elements contained in the solar nebula. The four inner or terrestrial planets have dense, rocky compositions, few or no moons, and no ring systems. They are composed largely of minerals with high melting points, such as the silicates which form their solid crusts and semi-liquid mantles, and metals such as iron and nickel, which form their cores. The Mariner 10 mission (1974) mapped about half the surface of Mercury. On the basis of that data, scientists have a first-order understanding of the geology and history of the planet. Mercury's surface shows intercrater plains, basins, smooth plains, craters, and
Terraforming of Venus intervention for the purpose of building colossal mountains on Venus to serve as islands of colonization in the skies of Venus. Since Venus only has a fraction of the water on earth (less than half the earth's water content in the atmosphere, and none on the surface), water would have to be introduced either by the aforementioned method of introduction of hydrogen, or from some other extraplanetary source. Paul Birch suggests the possibility of colliding Venus with one of the ice moons from the outer solar systems, thereby bringing in all the water needed for terraformation in one go. This