Could there be life under the ice? (Getty)

NASA is to launch a tiny spacecraft towards one of the more mysterious objects in our solar system – a moon of Neptune which might be able to host life.

NASA researchers believe that Triton may have liquid oceans benath its icy surface, kept liquid by ammonia in the water.

NASA researchers at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas revealed a plan to launch a small spacecraft towards the moon.

The moon was glimpsed by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1989, which captured images which led scientists to believe there might be liquid water beneath the surface.

View photos Neptune’s moon Triton was the last stop on Voyager 2’s tour of the outer planets (Getty) More

‘The time is now to do this mission,’ Louise Prockter, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

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‘The time is now to do it at a low cost. And we will investigate whether it is a habitable world, which is of huge importance.’

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