NASA is looking for meteorites that have swept into the Pacific Ocean. Here's why.

On March 7, 2018, NASA global scientist Marc Fries observed a meteorological radar as meteorites plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

Four months later, on July 2, Fries and a group of marine scientists plan to fire these meteorites. – Pieces of primordial space rocks – out of the sea. Nobody has ever recovered a meteorite from the ocean before, he said. But the effort is worth it.

These particular space rocks, he says, are different.

"This one is special," Fries said in an interview. "This one is harder than your typical meteor."

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The Falling Meteorites – One of the Most Important Fries on Weather Radars Dating Back to the 90s – The Rocks involved They break, crack and burn in the atmosphere as much as meteorites do. But to understand exactly what they are – and where they come from – means to visit the bottom of the sea, where heavy rocks have invariably flowed.

Fortunately for NASA, an exploration vessel called the Nautilus, operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, is coming to probe the depths of the ocean around this region this summer, off the coast. the Washington coast. On Friday, Fries boarded Nautilus to meet scientists.

"The goal is to find everything we can," said Nicole Raineault, marine science specialist and expedition leader of the Nautilus Ocean Exploration Trust. Finding meteorites lodged in the muddy bottom of the ocean can, at first glance, seem unrealistic.

But Fries reduced the meteorite drop to one square kilometer, where the ocean is about 100 feet deep.

"It's a pretty small area and quite shallow," Raineault said.

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Image: Mark fries / nasa

Nautilus is equipped with Deep sea robots, known as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), which are designed to scour the bottom of the ocean with cameras and other equipment.

ROVs will be equipped with "magnetic rods" magnetic objects, as about 90 percent of meteorites are rich in iron, and magnetic. Sonar-like instruments on the ship, called backscatter, will bounce signals from the seabed to try to spot hard objects there. The harder the material, the stronger the signal sent back to the scientists above

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"The best tools are the eyes," said Fries. "We are going to look for rocks that do not belong to him."

What they find could give scientists, and NASA, a better idea of ​​the type of meteorites that will inevitably continue to bomb our planet – a lot of little ones, "It will be important for us to know what its Expecting in the future, "says Fries

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