NASA's Triton Mission: Neptune's Moon, Triton, "Can Host Extraterrestrial Life" | Science | New



[ad_1]

Life has survived and even flourished in the most inhospitable environments of the Earth. And because of this, scientists are increasingly convinced that earth-like water-like worlds are the best candidates for the search for extraterrestrial life. Dr. Amanda Hendrix, Co-Director of NASA's Roadmap Group for Oceans World, told Express.co.uk, "The ocean worlds may be the best way in our solar system to find life.

"We need to know if these oceans are habitable and, if so, whether they actually harbor life."

NASA has announced plans to launch a high-tech probe on Neptune's iced Triton moon.

Indeed, many scientists believe that Triton hides an ocean hidden under its icy exterior.

Water is an essential ingredient in life. In other words, if Triton has an ocean, it could harbor tiny extraterrestrial life forms.

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have proposed a project to explore Triton at Lunar and Planeta

READ MORE: Mysterious signals 1.5 billion light-years away could be evidence of extraterrestrial life

The mission of NASA Ocean World is to develop a new type of spacecraft called Trident.

Trident would travel to Triton to photograph the frozen moon and analyze the chemical composition of its atmosphere for traces of underground oceans.

And if water was found, the largest of Neptune's 13 moons would instantly become the number one 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.

READ MORE: NASA scientists discover more and more "FUNGI" in Curiosity Rover photos

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.

Dr. Hendrix added, "Triton shows tantalizing allusions to being active and having an ocean.

"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.

READ MORE: Was Einstein FALSE? Scientists seek to refute the theory of gravity

During this overview, NASA scientists noticed plumes on Triton spilling out nitrogen.

It is believed that the moon is very similar to Pluto and is the coldest object in the solar system, with falling surface temperatures of up to -235 ° C.

This temperature is two and a half times colder than the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth, a Soviet weather station located in Antarctica in 1983.

However, the mission proposed by Triton is based on costs.

READ MORE: Ultima Thule in HD: NASA publishes a new photo of "snowman from space"

[ad_2]

Source link