by NASA is building a roadmap for robots that could visit ocean life through future space missions and break through the earth’s thick icy shells to explore subsurface seas in search of life.
Recently, the space agency revealed results from a NASA-sponsored workshop held in February 2023 at which scientists and engineers gathered to discuss possible “cryobot” mission concepts. The idea is to crack through the icy exterior of the solar system’s moons, as Jupiter‘ moon Europe or Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and launch a probe inside that can explore the liquid ocean beneath it.
Another option is the cryobot concept explored by drilling into the earth, and uses a cylindrical device launched from a mother unit on the surface of an icy ocean world that can melt the ice and thus slide down as water flows. surround him and freeze.
These probes, and this so-called “thermal drilling” technique, are currently commonly used to investigate glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but the icy shell of globes such as Europa and Enceladus is colder and thicker. They also present behaviors that are less predictable.
Researchers supported by NASA’s Scientific Exploration Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europa (SESAME) and Concepts for Earth Ocean Life Detection Technology (COLDTech) programs have been focused on placing current ground thermal drilling operations in extraterrestrial environments (COLDTech) for several years down
Related: Water Icy Moons That Could Host Life (Photograph)
During this time, however, humanity has learned much more about life in the ice-capped oceans, so the workshop, held at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), gave an opportunity to ‘scientists who were involved in these projects to reassemble and ensure these developments. being considered in the robot mission architecture.
To find life, follow the water
Life as we know it depends on many key compounds, molecules and elements, but arguably none are as vital as water.
A fundamental building block of life here on Earth, it is easy to see why water has become the focus of scientists aiming to search for life elsewhere on Earth. Solar system. And, while we’ve discovered that there’s plenty of water in our stellar backyard (and even beyond), no discovery has excited us more. astrobiologists nor the realization that there are vast oceans of liquid water in icy moons in our own solar system.
The discovery that the landscape is arid of it Mars When it’s overflowing with water it offers a very exciting opportunity to discover remains of ancient life, but oceanic moons like Europa and Enceladus offer the opportunity to find worlds that are currently habitable and may even host living things in their current waters. Those living things, though probably microbial, would be revolutionary to find.
According to NASA, the Caltech workshop resulted in the identification of four key elements that should inform the roadmap for the development of an alien-water-earth exploration robot. Those aspects were power, thermal capacity, mobility and communication.
A bot that can bring the heat under pressure
Of course, the mile-thick icy shells in the muses of the world’s oceans pose significant challenges for missions that seek to search for life. That means a cryobot exploring the core of an ocean world would need a nuclear power system capable of providing heat that could melt through those miles of ice—a system estimated to require about 10 kilowatts (kW) of energy. This system would also have to be integrated into a structure that could survive the immense pressure of these exotic seas.
There is some priority in developing such a system, however complex it may be.
The Cassini spacecraft, which explored Saturn and its moons before diving into the gas giantIn the 2017 atmosphere, it carried a thermal power system capable of generating 14 kW — more than the energy needed to melt thousands of ice. Also, during the 1960s and 1970s, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) were deployed that could probably survive the pressure of Europa’s oceans to the bottom of the oceans here on Earth.
But the futuristic crybot would not only need protection from the environment; it must also be protected from the heat it generates. A thermal management system would be needed to maintain a safe internal temperature for the bot by distributing heat to the environment.
One way to do this, the scientists say, is to use two independently pumped fluid circuits. One would circulate an internal working fluid through channels embedded in the robot’s skin, while the other would circulate melted ice water between the cryobot and the surrounding environment.
Although such systems are already in production, much more development is needed to prepare them for the icy shells of Europa or Enceladus.
Those ice shells can also contain impurities such as rock and salt that a robot would need additional systems to deal with. This could be done by using mechanical cutting, by blasting those impurities with high pressure water jets, or even by using a combination of the two.
Of course, some obstacles, such as large and solid rocks, blocks of salt, pockets of water, or even large voids in these icy shells may be unremovable by these methods — therefore, a cryobot would have to be able to there to navigate their passage to the surface. ocean. This would involve integrating a face-down sensor to look at the obstacles as well as a steering system, both of which have been developed in the past but have yet to be fully integrated into any kind of working system here on Earth.
Scientists will also need to devise ways to better identify obstacles in ice shells before developing a mission to take on an icy ocean moon, which the workshop identified as a high priority. What is to come Clip Europe A mission, due to launch in 2024 and reach the icy Jovian moon Europa in 2030, could be central to this hazard investigation work.
The ice was broken but not communication
Last but not least, the other aspect of the primary robot mission discussed at the Caltech workshop was a communication system that would allow vital data to be carried back from a deep-diving, ocean-exploring probe to a seated mother unit. on top of the targeted ice. sea world.
On Earth, cryobots do this using fiber optic cables, but to deploy these through ice on an alien world, it would be necessary to be sure that this ice does not break the cable. This is something that would be particularly challenging in Enceladus’ active ice shell, which can shift and move as plumes of oceanic material erupt through fissures, spraying into the the atmosphere of the moon.
Kate Craft of the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JPL) is investigating how ice shears on ocean moons might affect a system of communication beacons embedded in the ice, while other teams are looking at non-physical methods of transmitting data, such as using radio frequencies. , acoustics and even magnetic fields to transmit data from the oceans through the alien ice to the surface.
Related Stories:
— Moonquakes could ‘smooth out’ the surfaces of Jupiter and Saturn’s icy moons
— Icy moons break up around Jupiter and Saturn could be evidence of alien life
— A giant lunar collision could have caused Saturn’s iconic rings, study suggests
Although these were the four main aspects of ocean life exploring cryobots that were discussed by the approximately 40 people who attended this workshop, other things were looked at, such as instruments that can sample and analyze collected liquids, ice anchoring systems to secure surface-based modules, and materials to coat the surface of the cryobot that will not corrode in exotic environments.
The overall result of the mission planning exercise was that there is a lot of work to be done, but a cryobot mission to icy solar system worlds is possible.
This ultimately means that finding life on other worlds is more plausible than ever.
