External Sources of Water for Mercury's Putative Ice Deposits

Moses, J. I.; Rawlins, K.; Zahnle, Kevin; Dones, L.

doi:10.1006/icar.1998.6036

Cited by 72 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(153 reference statements)

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“…Thermal models show that in permanently shadowed regions of high-latitude craters, water ice covered by a regolith layer can be stable to evaporation over billions of years (Paige et al 1992;Vasavada et al 1999). The ice is thought to have been implanted by either constant micrometeoritic, asteroidal and cometary influx (Killen et al 1997), or to stem from a few large impacts by comets and/or asteroids (Moses et al 1999;Barlow et al 1999). The MESSENGER spacecraft observed areas of high and low near-infrared (NIR) reflectivity, which is interpreted as surface ice and ice buried under a layer of organic material Paige et al 2013).…”

Section: Water In the Planetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

Snodgrass

Agarwal

Combi

et al. 2017

Astron Astrophys Rev

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We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies.

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Section: Water In the Planetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

Snodgrass

Agarwal

Combi

et al. 2017

Astron Astrophys Rev

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“…Given the uncertainty in the actual typical measured depth, it would be premature to rule out any of the alternative delivery sources on the basis of the results presented here. Furthermore, there are considerable uncertainties in the micrometeorite flux reaching Mercury, with recent studies by Borin et al (2009);Nesvorný et al (2010) and Bruck Syal et al (2015) finding values that are respectively ∼ 60, 30 and 10 times those assumed by Moses et al (1999). However, this analysis does exclude the possibility of the total water ice deposits exceeding ∼ 3 × 10 15 kg, provided that the craters studied have ice depths typical of other regions hosting deposits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Surface volatiles are not stable for significant periods unless placed into the low temperature "cold traps" provided by near-polar impact craters containing permanently shaded regions. In order to discriminate between the various possible sources of water (Moses et al 1999;Crider & Killen 2005), which often imply different amounts of water being delivered, one also needs to understand how efficiently it can migrate from the delivery location to the cold traps (Butler 1997;Ong et al 2010;Stewart et al 2011). Such models can then inform the interpretation of actual measurements of the volatile inventories of these bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How thick are Mercury’s polar water ice deposits?

Eke

Lawrence

Teodoro

2017

Icarus

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An estimate is made of the thickness of the radar-bright deposits in craters near to Mercury's north pole. To construct an objective set of craters for this measurement, an automated crater finding algorithm is developed and applied to a digital elevation model based on data from the Mercury Laser Altimeter onboard the MESSENGER spacecraft. This produces a catalogue of 663 craters with diameters exceeding 4 km, northwards of latitude +55• . A subset of 12 larger, well-sampled and fresh polar craters are selected to search for correlations between topography and radar same-sense backscatter cross-section. It is found that the typical excess height associated with the radar-bright regions within these fresh polar craters is (50 ± 35) m. This puts an approximate upper limit on the total polar water ice deposits on Mercury of ∼ 3 × 10 15 kg.

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“…Halley-type comets can supply 0.2-20 × 10 16 g of water to the poles (0.1-8 m ice thickness). These sources alone provide more than enough water to account for the estimated volume of ice at the poles (Moses et al 1999). The ice deposits could, at least in part, be relatively recent deposits, if the two radar features A and B were the result of recent comet or water-rich asteroid impacts.…”

Section: Geological Processes On Mercury: Polar Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Geology of Mercury: The View Prior to the MESSENGER Mission

Head¹,

Chapman²,

Domingue³

et al. 2007

The Messenger Mission to Mercury

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Mariner 10 and Earth-based observations have revealed Mercury, the innermost of the terrestrial planetary bodies, to be an exciting laboratory for the study of Solar System geological processes. Mercury is characterized by a lunar-like surface, a global magnetic field, and an interior dominated by an iron core having a radius at least three-quarters of the radius of the planet. The 45% of the surface imaged by Mariner 10 reveals some distinctive differences from the Moon, however, with major contractional fault scarps and huge expanses of moderate-albedo Cayley-like smooth plains of uncertain origin. Our current image coverage of Mercury is comparable to that of telescopic photographs of the Earth's Moon prior to the launch of Sputnik in 1957. We have no photographic images of one-half of the surface, the resolution of the images we do have is generally poor (∼1 km), and as with many lunar telescopic photographs, much of the available surface of Mercury is distorted by foreshortening due to viewing geometry, or poorly suited for geological analysis and impact-crater counting for age determinations because of high-Sun illumination conditions. Currently available topographic information is also very limited. Nonetheless, Mercury is a geological laboratory that represents (1) a planet where the presence of a huge iron core may be due to impact stripping of the crust and upper mantle, or alternatively, where formation of a huge core may have resulted in a residual mantle and crust of potentially unusual composition and structure; (2) a planet with an internal chemical and mechanical structure that provides new insights into planetary thermal history and the relative roles of conduction and convection in planetary heat loss; (3) a one-tectonic-plate planet where constraints on major interior processes can be deduced from the geology of the global tectonic system; (4) a planet where volcanic resurfacing may not have played a significant role in planetary history and internally generated volcanic resurfacing may have ceased at ∼3.8 Ga; (5) a planet where impact craters can be used to disentangle the fundamental roles of gravity and mean impactor velocity in determining impact crater morphology and morphometry; (6) an environment where global impact crater counts can test fundamental concepts of the distribution of impactor populations in space and time; (7) an extreme environment in which highly radar-reflective polar deposits, much more extensive than those on the Moon, can be better understood; (8) an extreme environment in which the basic processes of space weathering can be further deduced; and (9) a potential end-member in terrestrial planetary body geological evolution in which the relationships of internal and surface evolution can be clearly assessed from both a tectonic and volcanic point of view. In the half-century since the launch of Sputnik, more than 30 spacecraft have been sent to the Moon, yet only now is a second spacecraft en route to Mercury. The MESSENGER mission will address key questions ...

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External Sources of Water for Mercury's Putative Ice Deposits

Cited by 72 publications

References 47 publications

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

How thick are Mercury’s polar water ice deposits?

The Geology of Mercury: The View Prior to the MESSENGER Mission

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