A small yellow robot submarine, called Boaty McBoatface after a competition to name a new polar research ship backfired, is being sent on its first Antarctic mission. Its mission will be to investigate water flow and turbulence in the dark depths of the Orkney Passage, a 3.5km deep region of the Southern Ocean. Boaty McBoatface: tyrants have crushed the people’s will | Stuart Heritage Read moreThe name it was given came in the wake of a campaign by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) that asked members of the public to suggest names for its new polar research ship. When the former BBC Radio Jersey presenter James Hand jokingly suggested Boaty McBoatface, it quickly became the most popular choice and the name won the vote by a huge majority. Boaty will travel with the DynOPO (Dynamics of the Orkney Passage Outflow) expedition on the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research ship James Clark Ross, departing from Punta Arenas in Chile on 17 March.

Source: The Guardian March 13, 2017 06:00 UTC