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NASA Wants to Explore Neptune’s Moon Triton—Solar System’s Coldest Object May Have Ocean Life

posted by chromas on Monday March 25 2019, @02:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the click-on-the-sun-for-more dept.

realDonaldTrump writes:

foxnews.com/science/nasa-wants-to-explore-neptunes-moon-triton-solar-systems-coldest-object-may-have-ocean-harboring-alien-life

The mission would involve developing a new kind of spacecraft known as Trident.

It would fly to Triton and take photographs of the icy object, while also studying its atmosphere and chemical makeup for signs of an underground ocean.

[...]

Little is known about Triton, and the only images we have of the moon were captured by the Voyager 2 probe in 1989.

During that flyby, space boffins spotted geysers on Triton that spewed out nitrogen gas. Nasa earmarked it for further research.

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  • (Score: 1) by kanisae on Monday March 25 2019, @03:26PM (3 children)

    by kanisae (1908) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:26PM (#819564)

    The radiation environment at Europa is intense due to the proximity of Jupiter and the ice is thought to be quite thick. Callisto is in some ways a far better choice for life due to its low radiation environment.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 25 2019, @03:51PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 25 2019, @03:51PM (#819586) Journal

    If a mission is going to travel out further than Jupiter, what about Enceladus which is a moon of Saturn. It seems to be thermally active beneath the ice.

    If a mission can go further out than Neptune, what about Miranda which is a moon of Uranus. (forget the adolescent joke about Uranus, it is properly pronounced more like urine-us)

    I am probably most intrigued by Enceladus.

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    The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 25 2019, @05:56PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Monday March 25 2019, @05:56PM (#819646) Journal

    The miles-thick icy shell(s) should protect life close to Jupiter. But it still makes it a pain to send spacecraft there.

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    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 25 2019, @06:15PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 25 2019, @06:15PM (#819661) Journal

      Miles thick makes it difficult to penetrate too.

      --
      The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.