NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Content with the tag: “sinkhole

  2. Diving Robot Discovers Life in the Slow Lane


    DEPTHX
    Scientists have found amazingly diverse microbial life in the world’s deepest water-filled sinkhole, even down where sunlight can’t reach. The discovery adds new insight into life’s ability to thrive in Earth’s most extreme environments. This research also could aid the search for life elsewhere in our solar system, such as on Jupiter’s moon Europa.

    The autonomous, deep-diving robot, DEPTHX, dove 275 meters into the Zacatón sinkhole in northeastern Mexico. Over almost 50 dives, the craft retrieved samples of water and microbes. DEPTHX is supported through the ASTEP (Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets) program.

    Source: [astrobio.net]

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  3. Robot Dives Deep for Sinkhole Slime


    In May, researchers successfully conducted the third and final field test of the autonomous underwater robot, DEPTHX. Their objective was to explore Cenote Zacatón, the world’s deepest water-filled sinkhole.

    Zacatón lies near one end of a chain of sinkholes stretching nearly half a mile across Rancho La Azufroza (Sulfur Ranch), located in northeastern México, roughly 20 miles from the Gulf Coast. Even without the sinkholes, the biology of the region would make a fascinating subject of study. The landscape is dotted with a muddle of tropical deciduous trees and bromeliads growing side-by-side with agaves and cacti typical of desert climates....

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