The British Natural Environment Research Council christened a research vessel the RRS Sir David Attenborough last year, even though a internet poll to name the ship indicated that Boaty McBoatface was the runaway favorite. The Science Ministry instead gave that name to the ship's unmanned research submarine. A year later, that little yellow submarine is ready for its first mission.
The high-tech remote-operated yellow submarine, bearing a name that began as a joke, will begin its first mission this week through a deep current that starts in Antarctica and goes through the Southern Ocean.
Boaty will navigate through underwater waterfalls and rapids on a two-month mission, collecting data to help scientists understand how global warming affects oceans. It will depart on Friday aboard the James Clark Ross, a British polar research ship, from Punta Arenas, Chile, and will head to the Southern Ocean.
Read more about the internet's favorite submarine at the New York Times.
(Image credit: National Oceanography Center)