A pool of oil on planet Mercury could serve as a landing spot?

Question

I know I know the cosmonauts of the past didn't explore Mercury enough to answer this question. but a non human space shuttle could PLOP into the oil? or maybe a tether

Answer 1

Well... oil is the residue left over from living material... as Mercury has never had anything living on it, I don't think there'd be any to PLOP in...

Answer 2

And then disembark in a pool of boiling oil?  Sounds medieval.  You'd have to kill most of the speed anyway to PLOP safely even in a liquid, so stopping completely on a landing pad wouldn't involve much more.  The reason the Apollo missions didn't is probably because reentering the atmosphere wouldn't have left any retro thrusters intact, and there is plenty of water nearby anyway.  The Russians used dry landings.