2007-03-09 | SCIENCE
Prototype Space Probe Prepares To Explore Earth's Deepest Sinkhole

AUSTIN, TexasScientists return this week to the worlds deepest known sinkhole, Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, to resume tests of a NASA-funded robot called DEPTHX, designed to survey and explore for life in one of Earths most extreme regions and potentially in outer space. If all goes well with this second round of testing and exploration, the team will return in May for a full-scale exploration of the Zacatón system. Sinking more than 1,000 feet, Zacatón has only been partially mapped and its true depth remains unknown. During eight years of research, doctoral student Marcus Gary and hydrogeology professor Jack Sharp from The University of Texas at Austins Jackson School of Geosciences discovered the systems unusual hydrothermal nature is analogous to liquid oceans under the icy surface of Jupiters moon Europa.

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