A Submarine Found Something Strange On The Ocean Floor - Then It Disappeared
An autonomous underwater vehicle named Ran disappeared while exploring the underside of the Dotson Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Researchers had previously used the robot to discover complex, unexpected ice formations before the machine vanished without a trace.
Why it matters
The loss of the vehicle hinders ongoing climate research into how ice shelves are changing in response to global warming.
Naeblys/Getty Images Antarctica is a massive block of ice hiding land underneath it, and you can hardly blame scientists for wanting to take a peek at the secrets it holds. But since you can't send humans down there — there's already a hard limit on the deepest depth a person has explored in the ocean – a robot named Ran went instead. The machine was a bright orange autonomous underwater vehicle measuring around 20 feet in length.
The article focuses on scientific exploration and the technical mystery of the missing equipment.
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