Mercury may have frozen water in craters, spacecraft flyby shows

Ice, ice, baby — too cold, too cold.

A recent spacecraft flyby over Mercury has experts believing that the planet closest to the sun has “frozen water” on its surface — and they’re excited to get a closer look in the years to come.

The sixth BepiColombo mission — launched by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — was able to examine a series of deep craters near Mercury’s north pole.

Researchers have found possible evidence of frozen water on the planet Mercury. OguzhanN7 – stock.adobe.com

The craft’s monitoring camera successfully passed over the planet’s harsh “terminator” zones, separating it from darkness and the sun’s ultra-powerful light.

Once on the brighter side, the darkly-shadowed sunken places, where experts saw signs of frozen water towards the frigid bottoms, became much more visible.

A flyby of Mercury revealed the possibility of frozen water on the planet. ESA

The planetary pockmarks are what the ESA calls “some of the coldest places in the Solar System.” The shivery situation is to be further investigated, the experts said.

“During the next few weeks, the BepiColombo team will work hard to unravel as many of Mercury’s mysteries with the data from this flyby as we can,” said the ESA’s Geraint Jones, the project scientist for BepiColombo.

ESA experts determined that the ancient indentations were likely formed by extreme lava flows and impacts of space rocks about 3.7 billion years ago.

Upcoming missions will further look into if there is frozen water on Mercury. ESA

They believe the solidification of the lava is what caused the deep pockets on Mercury’s surface.

This sixth BepiColombo mission — it was first launched in 2018 — was intended to give the spacecraft the gravitational swing it needed to be able to return to Mercury in late 2026.

At that time, the spacecraft will divide into two orbiters and maneuver the planet to prepare for scientific operations in 2027. Then, the crafts will gather a year or more’s worth of data on Mercury.