NASA is developing a roadmap for robots to explore the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter in search of life. The robots, called “cryobots”, will burrow through the moons’ icy shells to explore subsurface seas. 

NASA is developing a nuclear-fueled cryobot robot to burrow through the ice. Researchers at a NASA-sponsored workshop in February 2023 discussed a cryobot mission to explore the subsurface oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. 

NASA is also developing a snake-like probe to cut through the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Enceladus has a global ocean, unique chemistry, and internal heat, making it a promising lead in the search for life. 

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2024, will also provide research on Jupiter’s moon Europa.

NASA outlines plan to deploy burrowing ‘cryobots’ on icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter. NASA has laid out a roadmap for major aspects that need to be addressed while developing a robotic system that can explore icy moons with water oceans.

NASA is developing a roadmap for robots to explore the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter in search of life. 

NASA is developing a snake-like robot called EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) to explore the icy features of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. EELS is intelligent, flexible, and can cross harsh terrains. 

NASA is also developing an advanced nuclear-fueled cryobot robot to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus in the 2030s. 

NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration includes sending robotic probes to explore the solar system, including the moons of Jupiter and other outer planets.

NASA has sent several spacecraft to study Jupiter and its moons, including: 

• Galileo Launched in 1989, this robotic space probe was the first to orbit Jupiter, from 1995–2003. Galileo also visited the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. 
• Juno Launched in 2011, this spacecraft entered a polar orbit of Jupiter in 2016. Juno is studying Jupiter’s composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. 

NASA has also sent spacecraft to study Saturn, including: 

• Cassini: Became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn in 2004, beginning a decade-long mission. 
• Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2: Flew by Jupiter in the 1970s. 
• New Horizons: Took detailed photos of Jupiter on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is scheduled to launch in 2024 to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa. The mission’s goal is to determine if Europa’s underground ocean is habitable and if the moon could support life. 

The Europa Clipper is an orbiter that will study Europa through a series of flybys while orbiting Jupiter. It is the first mission to explore a world other than Earth with a global ocean. 

In October 2023, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured images of Europa’s terrain that revealed traces of life in the form of carbon dioxide

NASA has identified four key aspects that should be considered when developing a robotic system to explore icy moons with water oceans: Power, Thermal capability, Mobility, Communication. 

NASA has also funded a project to develop a swarm of small swimming robots that would explore these alien oceans for signs of extraterrestrial life. 

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is also investigating a robotic concept that would use steam propulsion to hop across the icy terrains found on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. 

A cryobot is a self-contained cylindrical probe that uses heat to melt the ice beneath it. The melted water then flows around the probe before refreezing behind it

According to NASA, the Caltech workshop led to the identification of four key aspects that should inform the roadmap for the development of an alien-water-world-exploring robot. Those aspects were power, thermal capability, mobility and communication

The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is a NASA program that explores ocean worlds in the outer Solar System. The program’s goal is to identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and understand any life found

The program’s objectives include: 

• Quantifying the importance of physical and (bio)geochemical processes on an ocean world to its biological potential and biosignature potential 
• Identifying which observable features would most strongly determine an ocean world’s biological and biosignature potential 

The Network for Ocean Worlds (NOW) is a NASA Astrobiology Program Research Coordination Network (RCN) that advances comparative studies to characterize Earth and other Ocean Worlds. 

The Goddard’s Science Task Group to Explore Ocean Worlds (OSEAN) develops investigations in support of enabling high-priority science related to ocean worlds. 

Ocean worlds provide opportunities for future ocean research. They allow us to test our understanding of processes we consider fundamental to Earth’s ocean and simultaneously provide motivation to explore our ocean further and develop new technologies to do so.

A cryobot is a cylindrical robot that uses heat to melt ice and gravity to sink downward. The melted water flows around the probe and refreezes behind it. 

Cryobots are used to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for signs of life. They can also be used to study terrestrial glaciers and ice sheets. 

Here are some other details about cryobots: 

• Shape: Cryobots are long, pencil-shaped probes with a heated tip. 
• Deployment: Cryobots are dispatched from a mother unit at the surface of an icy ocean world. 
• Power system: The power system must be able to melt ice efficiently and be protected from the high pressures of the deep ocean.

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