Diamonds are forever. And it seems the planet closest to the Sun, Mercury has an unimaginable abundance of the precious stone dear to humans. As per a new research, Mercury may have diamonds to the tune of 16 quadrillion tons on the surface and inside the planet.
Mercury is a planet heavily bombarded by asteroids, comets and meteorites during a period called Late Heavy Bombardment. At this time, around 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago, the solar system was in its early phase. Moon’s craters are from the same time, though they are much less compared to Mercury.
This makes it a perfect candidate for conditions in which diamond is created. The planet has graphite in abundance, which is a pure form of the element carbon. Asteroid and meteor strikes would have transformed it into the precious stone.
Are these like diamonds on Earth and can they be mined?
The diamonds that the simulation model exhibited at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Houston, USA earlier this month says exist on Mercury, are mostly inside and only a small fraction of around one or two percent may be at the surface.
These diamonds would be closer to the smaller cloudy diamonds that humans employ in industrial use instead of the large stones cut into gems for jewellery.
Space mining is an idea that has gained a lot of traction in recent times. But while space mining is in itself a complicated procedure, the researchers say that Mercury will be a trickier mining destination as landing is tough due to orbital mechanics. However, the chances of this happening in the future cannot be ruled out.
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But while Mercury may very well be the most abundant diamond but the stones are found elsewhere, in the outer planets of Neptune and Uranus where mining might, in fact, be easier.
