Mercury study offers new insight into the possibility of life on other planets

Elements found on the first planet from the Sun

Scientists may have evidence of the existence of aliens after a “groundbreaking” study. They suggested that there could be life on Mercury, but this would require a change in the approach to research, and the forms that a living organism could take on this planet would boggle the mind.

Mercury appears to be one of the least likely planets to support life in the solar system. The first planet, where the highest temperatures and the absence of an atmosphere, could hold the elements necessary for life, reports the Spanish publication AS.

Scientists have reconsidered this possibility thanks to the discovery of salt glaciers that resemble their icy counterparts on Earth. Previous studies have shown that Mercury’s surface contains volatile substances, elements such as sulfur, chlorine and potassium, which may help create conditions for life.

The researchers’ initial thought suggested that the various mixed layers and materials were formed by the impact of a massive asteroid that created Caloris Crater, but later studies instead determined that subsequent impacts revealed similar materials and evidence that they may have existed independently of the asteroid.

“This groundbreaking discovery of Mercury’s glaciers expands our understanding of the environmental parameters that could support life, adding a vital dimension to our astrobiology research that also relates to the potential habitability of Mercury-like exoplanets,” says Planetary Science Institute scientist Alexis Rodriguez . He also noted that this kind of discovery complements other recent research showing that Pluto has nitrogen glaciers, implying that the glaciation phenomenon is spreading from the hottest to the coldest edges of our solar system.”

Researchers involved in the study argue that salt glaciers may have formed from layers rich in volatiles, sitting on top of vast reserves of these elements.

“Specific salt compounds on Earth create habitable niches even in the harshest environments where they occur, such as the arid Atacama Desert in Chile,” explains Rodriguez. “This line of thinking leads us to wonder about the possibility of subsurface regions on Mercury that could be more hospitable than its harsh surface.”

Another scientist, Brian Travis, points out that the study models confirm that salt flow likely created the glaciers and that after their formation, they retained volatiles for more than 1 billion years.”

Researcher Deborah Domingue added that the glaciers are marked by complex depression configurations that were likely formed by the persistence of a volatile-rich composition.

“The solution suggests that clusters of depressions inside impact craters may arise from impact zones caused by impacts, thereby clarifying a connection that has long puzzled planetary scientists,” Domingue said.