NASA Confirms Presence Of Water Ice On Mercury

By Paul Adams Posted 11.29.2012 at 2:24 pm 8 Comments

A First Look at Mercury's Northern Polar Region Messenger's Wide Angle Camera imaged this never-before-seen patch of terrain near Mercury's North Pole during its first pass over the region after the camera was activated. At this point Mercury is just 280 miles above the surface. The spacecraft's elliptical orbit brings it as close as 125 miles from the surface and as far away as 9,300 miles. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

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Daytime on Mercury's equator can break the 800-degree mark, but nonetheless there's long been speculation that the first planet's poles might be icy. A new analysis of neutron-spectrometry data returned by the Messenger probe confirms the hypothesis: there's ice in some polar craters!

When radar detected brightness near Mercury's poles in 1992, the prevailing theory and hope was that it was H₂O, but there are other reflective substances it might have been: lovely white sand deserts, perhaps.

Messenger, the NASA probe that's been orbiting Mercury for a couple of years now, analyzed neutrons coming from the planet, and noticed that the quantity was lower above the polar bright spots -- exactly commensurate with the way water ice absorbs neutrons.

Time to build a Mercury colony.

[Science via New York Times]

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8 Comments

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rlb2

11/29/12 at 5:03 pm

I told friends that they will admit to finding organics on Mercury before they will admit to finding organics on Mars, it looks like I was right.

Ron Bennett

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rlb2

11/29/12 at 5:06 pm

See he full version of water ice and organics on Mercury here

http://www.space.com/18687-water-ice-mercury-messager-discovery.html

Ron Bennett

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david_forbus

11/29/12 at 7:31 pm

Does this make a manned mission to Mercury a possibility?

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sdfwesdfwe369

11/29/12 at 7:37 pm

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Super Sci-Fi Guy

11/30/12 at 4:49 am

"That's no space station, it looks more like a small moon"

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Super Sci-Fi Guy

11/30/12 at 4:54 am

thats amazing. water, heat & ice could make life. Mercury Cougars! R Back!!

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Robot

11/30/12 at 11:21 am

That's no moon!!!! Reverse thrusters!

I can't, we are caught in a tractor beem!

Ok, guys, I guess were going in....

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BruceVoigt

11/30/12 at 12:59 pm

Like every cell, molecule, quark, planet, moon or star incorporates a black hole at its nucleus. Instigated reactions to a black hole produce its atomic reactions.

INSTIGATED REACTION is the black hole’s intake or its nutritional feeding.
Like all cells etc our sun spews its info cells or atomic energy. This energy atomically interacts creating heat, creating light with most of what it encounters, the smallness of dark matter or energy being one exception.

From this encounter or collision, created light feeds on the Aura or Info Cells (dark matter) of what it has come in contact with. Using this continuous magnetic energy connection, info cells of Earth are affectively transported to the sun to be used as nutrition or fuel of its black hole. This of course means we’re no longer #1 on the food chain!

Our sun is a cold, cold activated black hole. It appears to us as being hot and bright but it is not. What we observe as a fiery object is in fact collision or reaction between the force emitting from this black hole and the accumulation of packed STUPH – the sun’s digestive system if you like.

When you stand back from a fire you no longer feel its heat. The sun being no exception; we and Mercury do not receive heat and light from the sun’s outer fire!