A scientific study focuses on whether there are life forms on Mercury, and the theoretical basis of the research is chaotic terrain. Mercury is a planet with a surface hot enough to melt lead, which may indicate it once contained the ingredients needed for life. The new theory, published in the journal Scientific Reports, is based on a particularly chaotic feature of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, known as "chaotic terrain." Here, the broken, uneven, jumbled landscape is made up of fractured rocks, mismatched peaks and collapsed craters.
Deborah Domingo from the Planetary Science Institute based in "Think about a child throwing a bunch of blocks, and how do those blocks hit the ground? Some will rise, some will fall, and some will tilt," Mercury said. It's such a chaotic terrain."
Overturning of Early Views
For nearly 50 years, scientists have believed that the chaos on Mercury was caused by earthquakes caused by a giant asteroid hitting the far side of the planet.
But new research led by Dr. Domingo’s colleague Alexis Rodriguez overturns this view. This suggests that since the impact occurred 2 billion years after the crater was formed, the area could not have formed after the impact.
Additionally, Dr. Rodriguez and his colleagues found that some areas within the chaos zone appeared to have declined. It's as if the layers of crust beneath the surface have disappeared.
The simplest explanation is that underground volatiles, such as elements that can easily convert from solids to liquids or gases, heat up due to the intrusion of underground magma. This causes these elements to turn into gas, forcing the terrain above them to collapse into chaos.
Other planetary scientists agree
Planetary scientist Paul Haine of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was not involved in the study, agrees that the long-unchallenged common explanation for Mercury's chaotic state may be wrong. He also pointed out that this new finding is consistent with what scientists have observed on Mars. On Mars, similar terrain may be caused by the release of volatiles.
Underground volatiles that cause terrain collapse may be linked to life
This is an exciting idea, given the need for volatile materials, especially water, to kick-start life. Dr. Domingo said that while the team could not determine which volatiles were present, there was reason to believe water could be one of them.
This finding contradicts the view that Mercury is uninhabitable. So close to the sun, its surface reaches temperatures of 427°C during the day. Then, because the planet has no atmosphere to retain heat, its surface plummets to -173°C during the night.
But a short distance below the surface, temperatures are much cooler and even comfortable for some life forms, said study co-author Jeffrey Kargel.
Dr. Cagle said: "Wherever there is water and temperature, it is potentially suitable for the survival of life and may be suitable for the origin of life."
Still, the suggestion that water may exist on planets like Mercury provides compelling clues for the search for life in the galaxy . Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars, some of which look similar to Mercury.
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