Scientists Point to Prospects for Water Ice on Mercury.

Scientists said that Mercury might harbor water ice in pockets which might be perpetually hidden from this blazing heat and lighting.

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is orbiting the earth Mercury, and researchers involved using the mission said it possesses provided more support for scientists' beliefs that the planet has water ice in lots of the dark craters at its poles. They said this MESSENGER spacecraft has gave measurements of excess hydrogen along with reflectance, as well as information that has helped them understand temperatures of Mercury's north polar places.

The scientists described their findings with a news briefing at NASA head office in Washington Thursday.

Researchers previously had identified what they thought to be patches of frozen normal water in shaded areas at the poles. Just like its polar environment, the areas reflect radar, in order that they appear as bright areas.

NASA's MESSENGER craft continues to be studying Mercury since it reached the planet last 12 months.

The MESSENGER probe's name is a nickname for for its multi-faceted quest: "ME" for Mercury, "SS" for surface and space, "EN" for environment, "GE" for geochemistry, along with "R" for ranging. MESSENGER premiered in 2004, and it took seven years for that craft to reach Mercury.

Researchers say MESSENGER'S observations may help them better understand how Mercury and also other planets in the pv system formed some four. 5 billion years before.

The new findings are detailed in three documents published online in Research Express.