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Color mosaic of Triton, taken in 1989 by Voyager 2 during its flight over the Neptune system. (Credit: NASA / JPL / USGS)
NASA is preparing a mission on the coldest object known to our solar system, in search of extraterrestrial life.
The legendary space agency wants to send a high-tech probe to Triton, the frozen moon of Neptune, which some say contains an ocean hidden beneath its surface.
Water is one of the key ingredients of life. In other words, if Triton has an ocean, it could harbor tiny extraterrestrial microbes.
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Scientists from NASA's jet propulsion laboratory presented their plans for the exploration of the moon at the lunar and planetary conference on planetary science in Texas.
The mission would be to develop a new type of spacecraft called Trident.
He would fly to Triton and take photographs of the icy object, while studying his atmosphere and his chemical composition to detect the signs of an underground ocean.
If water was found, NASA would then choose Triton – the largest of Neptune's 13 moons – as a key target for future alien hunting missions.
Trident would also give scientists the opportunity to visit Neptune and his moons for the first time since the 1980s, as well as explore an object of the Kuiper Belt.
The belt is a ring of frozen clods far beyond Neptune, and scientists believe that Triton is a Kuiper object that was washed away by the gravitational pull of Neptune billions of years ago.
"Triton is showing tantalizing hints of an active lifestyle and an ocean," NASA scientist Amanda Hendrix told the New York Times.
"It's a target three for one, because you can visit the Neptune system, visit this interesting ocean world, and also visit an object of the Kuiper belt without having to move completely."
Little is known about Triton and the only images we have of the moon were captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989.
During this flyover, space giants spotted geysers on the Newt that spit out nitrogen. NASA has assigned it to further research.
The moon is thought to be very similar to Pluto and is the coldest object in the solar system, with surface temperatures dropping to -235 ° C.
It's two-and-a-half times colder than the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth-an icy temperature of -89.2 ° C recorded at a Soviet meteorological station in Antarctica in 1983.
The mission proposed to Triton depends on its price.
The launch of Trident would cost less than $ 500 million, or £ 380 million, about the same as a small mission on the moon.
This could make the difference as the team solicited funding for NASA's highly competitive Discovery program.
The goal of NASA is to deploy these missions once every two years and Trident is facing three other potential missions for the next free slot.
They include the moon of Trip, the moon Io of Jupiter and the return to Venus.
According to Louise Prockter, Trident's chief investigator, the time has come to launch a Triton mission, as it is essential to determine if the moon is harboring extraterrestrial life.
Mr. Hendrix added that things like Triton could help us better understand how oceanic worlds form and hold water.
For example, Triton temperatures are well below freezing, but may contain ammonia that keeps its ocean in liquid form.
Clues like this could help us find and explore other oceanic worlds in the future, whether we explore whether or not we are alone in the universe.
This story originally appeared in The Sun.
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