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Most people know Mercury for having craters and cracks covering most of its surface. Scientists have considered the planet as one where life can not live. There has been a recent theory that is surprising many people. That theory suggests that volatiles formed the chaotic surface of Mercury.
Volatiles are chemicals that scientists associate with a moon or planet's atmosphere and crust. The volatiles can quickly switch their states. Water is volatile, which is an essential component for life to exist.
There are potential volatiles that we can find in Mercury. If you're wondering if this means that alien life could exist on Mercury, then you are correct.
A chaotic surface brings alien life?
Dr. Alexis Rodriguez, a researcher at the Planetary Science Institute, led the study. They studied the chaotic surface of Mercury while taking a better look at the details. The researchers suggested that volatiles shaped a planet that had a cover that had temperatures high enough to get lead metal to melt.
Mars, the red planet, has a surface similar to Mercury's, but there is a high possibility that outflow channels caused the landscape on the earth to look like how it is. Researchers have found no outflow channels on Mercury. They concluded that when a giant asteroid crashed into the planet, it caused the terrain to form that way.
The impact of the asteroid left a crater, the Caloris basin, which you can still see on the surface of Mercury. Only until recently did experts think the impact of the asteroid caused powerful earthquakes that formed the chaotic surface of the planet.
But they realized that it could not be the reason because of a recent study that they conducted. It suggested that it could not be possible since the time scale did not match up.
What caused the chaotic surface of Mercury?
Daniel Berman, also from the Planetary Science Institute, said that the key to discovering it was finding out that the chaotic surface kept on developing until less than two billion years ago- which is two billion years after a massive asteroid crashed into Mercury.
That discovery was the first concrete evidence they needed to create the conclusion. They used NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft's imagery and data to date the features of Mercury. MESSENGER spent about four years studying Mercury from the planet's orbit.
It all helped show what the ages of the features of Mercury's surface were, which included the crater formed by the giant asteroid and the many cracks and holes. The researchers saw that most of the minor features could keep themselves intact even in that kind of terrain.
Imagine what an extreme earthquake would feel like, and that's what happened when the giant asteroid crashed into Mercury. The impact would not cause solely building to fall. It would cause entire mountain ranges to dive down and crumble.
NASA suggested that if earthquakes caused the cracks and craters to form, then the minor features on the surface would not be intact. The discoveries from this study showed that the previous idea of how Mercury's terrain created has flaws.
Although alien life is still possible on Mercury.
