NASA is all set to roar in the deep fathoms of El Zacaton cenote with it’s newly developed self-automated submarine. El Zacaton is the world’s deepest underwater sink fissure and has been inaccessible since the time a diver died exploring it’s depths.
It has been of great interest to the researchers ever since they got to know about this sinkhole. Believe me; no one has reached the bottom of El Zacaton (it is situated in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas) and many underwater researchers opine that this deepest sinkhole is atleast 925 feet deep.
This self-automated underwater navigator submarine is christened the “DEPTHX” which stands for - Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer. The “DEPTHX” is destined to search the depths of “El Zacaton” cenote this week; it would incorporate latest expedition technologies to analyze the geographic patterns and life forms, if any, of this geothermal sinkhole. The researchers confirmed that they would study it’s incoming vents too that are supposed to feed it.
This expedition is fully funded by NASA, the robotic explorer may be termed as a test-run, and NASA is all ready for the upcoming journey to Europa. Europa is infact a moon of Jupiter that seems to hold liquid water beneath it’s icy environmental terrains. This robotic expedition would definitely help the scientists to gather considerable useful information that may lead to a new life form discovery.
David Wettergreen, one of the key developers, commented that - “We’ll spend the first two days checking out DEPTHX’s sensors, updating its software and performing a test dive to 250 meters [820 feet] to check its pressure housings.”
They will be carrying out this mission for about 6 days; David Wettergreen also opined that - “It’s an ambitious program, but the vehicle performed well in two earlier field tests at the La Pilita cenote.”
The software engineers from the “Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute” are the key role players in developing the ground breaking software for this underwater robot. They have integrated the “56 sonar sensors mapping” technique into this submarine that makes it fully accomplished and all set for every kind of “under water expedition.”
Via: Msnbc
