NASA seeks to find 10cm of mud soil at 100m under the sea

NASA will be the first to collect meteorites offshore. NASA and the University of Washington, with the help of the "Nautilus" ocean probe, will search for and collect meteorites at the bottom of a 100-meter-deep ocean on the North Pacific coast , according to two scientific sources.

The meteor crashed into the sea with a gigantic fire with a bright flash on the evening of March 7.
The meteorite was originally the size of a golf cart, but it broke when penetrating into the atmosphere.

A weather radar, which measures about 12 kilograms and weighs about 4 kilograms, was designed to track a small object in the atmosphere, so it might not catch a larger object. For this reason, scientists believe that there could be even more brick-sized meteorites. "This meteorite is the largest meteorite in the United States in the 21st century," said NASA global scientist Mark Price.

He said that this meteorite will play an important role in expanding the knowledge of other meteorites that will be large, small or large. The meteorite is thought to be scattered over an area of ​​1 km² about 25 km from the coast. It is said that the underwater terrain is relatively flat, although it is around the valley.

Although it may seem unrealistic to find a meteorite 10 meters wide at the bottom of a muddy bottom, scientists expect the meteorite to be reduced to less than 30 meters. one square kilometer and that the depth of the water is about 100 meters.

Nautilus plans to install a remotely controlled robotic remote control (ROV) that can be equipped with photographic equipment and rub the bottom of the seabed. About 90% of meteorites are rich in iron and magnetic materials, and the ROV "magnetic rods" should play a major role.

Nautilus will conduct another exploration activity in the neighboring area with the flagship of the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) founded by explorer Robert Ballard, and will conduct NASA's request and looking for meteorites for four days as donations

"It's an exciting and pure exploration mission, so it's a good opportunity for us," explained the vice president of science and OEC exploration, Nikolai Reynolds.

The Nautilus meteorite research and collection can be seen on the Nautilus website (http://www.nautiluslive.org/[19459007))from1amto8pm(Korneahorse)on3] When the meteorite is found, it will be delivered to the Smithsonian Institute's research collection. News from Yonhap