![\"NASA](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2019\/02\/nasa-whoi-orpheus-deep-sea-submarine-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>The Hadal Zone<\/h2>
Thousands of feet below the surface of Earth’s ocean lies a vast habitat of strange-looking fish, giant jellies, and microscopic animals.<\/p>
To this day, the “hadal zone” — 3.7-6.8 miles (6,000-11,000 meters) below the surface — remains largely unexplored. But thanks to NASA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s leading non-profit dedicated to exploring our oceans, that might soon change.<\/p>
A brand new submarine called the Orpheus is ready to explore that underwater wilderness with a whole array of scientific instruments — and one day, vehicles like it could explore oceans elsewhere in the solar system, too.<\/p>
Project Orpheus<\/h2>
Orpheus — named after the Greek hero who survived a trip to the underworld — is a 600 pound drone meant to explore the hadal zone essentially all by itself.<\/p>
As Business Insider<\/em> points out<\/a>, communications from miles beneath the ocean can take longer to reach the surface than broadcasts from the Moon.<\/p> It’s also meant to be small, and light so that if all goes right, a very distant relative of that same design could explore the icy oceans of Jupiter’s smallest moon, Europa.<\/p> “It’s the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother of the vehicle that may go to Europa,” Tim Shank, WHOI biologist and mission leader, told Business Insider<\/em><\/a>.<\/p> But diving to those kind of extreme depths is difficult, to say the least. A previous submarine called Nereus built by WHOI engineers was lost at a depth of six miles in 2014. Luckily, the Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA are offering up some help for the Orpheus project.<\/p> So far, Orpheus has dived to just shy of 600 feet on an untethered mission in September<\/a> — a long shot from the hadal zone.<\/p> But it’s a tiny first step before mankind could make the first discovery of alien life on Jupiter’s ancient moons — so far one of the likeliest places<\/a> for life to exist in our Solar System.<\/p> READ MORE: <\/strong> NASA is testing a new submarine that will hunt for undiscovered sea life — and scientists eventually want it to look for aliens on Europa<\/a> [Business Insider<\/em>]<\/p> More on Europa: <\/strong>NASA’s Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Bot Could Hunt for Life on Europa<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Read the original post: The Hadal Zone Thousands of feet below the surface of Earth\u2019s ocean lies a vast habitat of strange-looking fish, giant jellies, and microscopic animals. Continue reading Icy Moons<\/h2>
NASA’s New Deep-Sea Submarine Could Eventually Look for Aliens<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"