There’s a new NASA mission that could get the green light next summer, and this aims to untangle the mysteries of Triton, which is Neptune’s largest moon.
Triton has a retrograde orbit
Triton is just a bit bigger compared to the dwarf planet Pluto, and it’s the only large mon from the solar system that is orbiting the opposite direction to the planet’s rotation. It has a retrograde orbit.
This interesting nature os the ET rock does not stop here – when NASA’s Voyager 2 flew past Triton back on August 25, 1989 there have been a lot of eyebrows raised.
This was due to the fact that Voyager 2 revealed that the moon’s surface is hosting some dark plumes of icy material. This icy landscape seemed to be young and had been resurfaced over and over with some fresh material – this managed to raise some questions regarding the hows and the whys.
Triton is still active today
The implication was that despite the fact that it’s an ancient moon that’s located six times farther from the Sun compared to Jupiter, Triton was still active and it’s active today as well. More than that, it’s mindblowing to know that it could also be the home to a vast interior ocean as well.
It’s been just revealed that there’s a new mission that’s called Trident – this is one of four missions that are competing for selection under NASA’s Discovery Program.
The mission wants to discover more about how this celestial body has evolved over time.
NASA addressed the issue in a recent press release this week and described the mission in more detail.
“Trident, named after the three-pronged spear carried by the ancient Roman sea god Neptune, aims to discover which factors lead to a solar system body having the necessary ingredients to be habitable,” according to the notes.