March 1, 2013

A video camera on a NASA-designed-and-funded mini-submarine captured this view as it descended a 2,600-foot-deep (800-meter-deep) borehole to explore Antarctica's subglacial Lake Whillans. The international Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project was designed to gain insights into subglacial biology, climate history and modern ice sheet behavior. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA is best known for its explorations away from this planet, but the US space agency has a whole other program aimed at investigating the depths of this planet.

One NASA researcher from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California joined up with an international Antarctic expedition last month to try and explore an unexplored aquatic environment on Earth. Alberto Behar used a small robotic sub about the size of a baseball bat, known as the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device, to get a peak at these extreme environments.

The Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device is equipped with hydrological chemical sensors and a high-resolution imaging system. Its instruments and cameras are capable of capturing the geology, hydrology and chemical characteristics of the environment.

This is the first instrument ever to explore a subglacial lake outside of a borehole, Behar said. Its able to take us places that are inaccessible by any other instruments in existence.

The international team, Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project, has a mission to access subglacial Lake Whillans, which sits over 2,000 feet below sea level in West Antarcticas Ross Ice Shelf. The 20-square-mile lake is so far down; sunlight is unable to reach the waters, which keep a temperature of 31 degrees Fahrenheit.

The WISSARD team used specialized tools to get clean samples from the lake water and used video to take a survey of the floor. With this information, the team will be able to have a better idea of subglacial biology, climate history and modern ice sheet behavior.

Behars small submarine is designed to work at depths up to three-quarters of a mile, within a range of 0.6 miles from the entry point in the ice to reach the lake. The Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device is able to transmit real-time high-resolution images, as well as deliver salinity, temperature and depth measurement data to the surface through fiber-optic cables.

See the article here:

NASA Sub Helps Explore Depths Of Antarctica