While it might perhaps be more likely for NASA to be searching for expensive equipments such as a lost satellite or perhaps even a wayward tool bag, the American space administration has this week put out a call for missing rubber ducks.
NASA calls for seafarers to keep an eye out for its missing bath toys. Image: Gaetan Lee/Flickr.
Around three months ago, NASA inserted 90 of the iconic bath toys through special holes in the Jakobshavn glacier on the west coast of Greenland in the hopes they would emerge from channels beneath the Artic icecap and allow scientists to accurately track the progressive melting.
With its little yellow ducks still unaccounted for, NASA is now turning to the watchful eyes of diligent seafarers such as sailors, fishermen or cruise ship passengers and is keen to know should anyone spot one of the bobbing plastic trackers.
Accompanying the flotilla of rubber ducks beneath the glacier was a football-sized robotic probe that has also failed to show despite being equipped with GPS technology.
“We did not hear a signal back [from the floating probe],” explained NASA robotics specialist Alberto Behar in a BBC report. “So it probably got stuck under the ice somewhere.”
Not yet considered to be a complete washout, NASA’s tracking experiment was designed to prove that melting water beneath Artic glaciers provides a form of lubrication, which then serves to increase the speed of their movements.
NASA has said it will pay a modest $100 USD for every duck recovered. Anyone plucking one of the hardy toys from the drink can contact the administration via an e-mail address stamped onto each of them.
No reward has yet been placed on the floating GPS probe, which is likely worth considerably more than the meagre $2 USD each rubber duck is worth.
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