Mercury Is Earth's Nearest Neighbor on Average Across Orbits

Although Venus is often cited as Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, long‑term averaging of planetary distances shows Mercury stays nearest to Earth overall. Using a point‑circle method and a 10,000‑year orbital simulation, Mercury is closest to Earth about 47% of the time (Venus ~36%, Mars ~17%), and Mercury is the closest planet on average to every other planet as well due to its tight, Sun‑hugging orbit. This doesn’t mean Mercury ever gets closer than Venus at its nearest approach, nor does it change the solar system’s layout; for spacecraft planning, launch geometry and transfer windows remain the practical focus, with Venus and Mars as the near targets.)