Ice on Mercury in polar crater shade

[marcus]

beautiful discovery!
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/29nov_iceonmercury/

 

[berkeman]

Send out a rover!

 

[Bandersnatch]

Bah, send out colonists!

 

[berkeman]

Just think, life evolves in the water pools around the ice sheet. First single cell animals, then fish, then lungfish, then a little dinasaur that crawls out of the water, crawls out of the crater, and is vaporized *poof*. Interesting twist on natural selection...

 

[Dotini]

I was watching the live video feed from the NASA press conference, and took the following notes:

- stable polar water ice deposits
- deposited over a long term by comets and asteroids
- redistributing into crater micro-environments which range from 550 to 50 kelvin
- in close proximity to rich organic chemicals
- all the building blocks of life
- images are expected of "unusual phenomena" in the vicinity of these craters

Although the NASA folks specifically denied they were reporting anything like finding life, they were grinning from ear to ear over their splendid results.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve