NASA’s Mercury-orbiting probe discovered ice on the planet

Scientists of NASA have discovered a huge mass of ice at Mercury’s North Pole on 29 November 2012. Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun. These findings come from the Mercury-orbiting probe of NASA, Messenger.

Frozen water is found in the North Pole regions of Mercury which are always found in shadows and mainly affects the craters. It is supposed that the south pole of mercury also has ice but there is no hard and fast data which supports this. Messenger orbits closer to the North Pole than South Pole.

Scientist from the Johns Hopkins University opined that if all this is added, the total amount of ice comes out to be 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons. The only thing that is uncertain is how deep it lies.

It is thought that the ice is approximately 1.5 feet or 0.5 metres deep or possibly, around 65 feet deep as well. The amount of ice found at Mercury is enough to bury the area the size of Washington D.C. by around 2.5 miles deep.

The radar measurements analysed from Earth had suggested existence of ice on Mercury’s poles for two decades. Because of the Messenger, the results have been confirmed now. The water, it seemed, came from impacting comets and possibly even the asteroids. Ice was found at Mercury’s surface and also buried under the dark organic material.

It is very important to note that presence of ice on Mercury does not necessarily indicate that there is a possibility of life on Mercury. But it is evidence that Mercury might support life, considering the presence of water on its surface. Over the years, Mercury has also become a subject of astrobiological interest.

About Messenger

Messenger was launched back in 2004. It is a NASA spacecraft orbiting around Mercury. The observations through NASA’s Messenger will continue in the next year as well.