The frigid topic of ice on Mercury became a hot topic of discussion at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference, held in The Woodlands, Texas, on March 19 through 23. There, Professor David Paige from UCLA’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences and a member of the MESSENGER science team revealed some of the new MESSENGER data he and his colleagues had received: Not only is there water ice on Mercury, but also a layer of carbon-rich soil that protects that ice from the heat of the sun.