Boaty McBoatface Is Going on Its First Mission

Boaty McBoatface is going into action. The remotely operated underwater research vessel will be undertaking its first research mission as part of an Antarctic expedition that starts Friday, NPR reports. The submersible, of course, was named Boaty McBoatface after that name won an online poll that was supposed to pick the name of a new UK research ship. The UK decided to name that ship the RRS David Attenborough instead, but gave the Boaty name instead to a trio of underwater vehicles, the BBC reports. It's one of those vehicles that will be heading to the Orkney Passage to study Antarctic Bottom Water, looking at its movement and turbulence in an effort to improve climate change models. (More Boaty McBoatface stories.)