The robot’s path to the icy satellite of another planet begins in the depths of the Antarctic
In November 2019, NASA scientists completed field trials of a floating all-terrain vehicle, which they hope will one day be able to go to Europe - the satellite of Jupiter with a frozen ocean
NASA's floating ATV prototype in a test in a lake near Utkiagwick, Alaska.Standing next to a large neat hole in the ice under the stone-gray midday summer sky of Antarctica, six Adélie penguins watch as six men work with their tools. This abyss under the ice, perhaps, could be an attractive invitation to the depths rich in krill. However, not a single member of the intelligence group in tuxedos dives into this square with a side of two meters. The risk of encountering a sea leopard is too high.However, diving into it, the penguins would not see a seal, but a robot.In November, scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory successfully field-tested the BRUIE, the “Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration,” under the ice of eastern Antarctica. The all-terrain vehicle with remote control was specially made so that it could crawl along the bottom of sea ice and ice shelves. The long-term goal of trials on Earth is to organize someday in the future the search for signs of life under a thick frozen shell covering Jupiter’s ocean-satellite, Europe. Under its ice hides three times more liquid water than in all the oceans of the Earth.It will be many years before the spacecraft from Earth lands on Europe, which was most thoroughly studied during the work of the Galileo mission"in the mid-1990s. The next robotic probe designed to visit this world is the Europa Clipper , which they plan to launch no earlier than 2025. Arriving at the site in a few years, this ship will fly around Jupiter and fly past Europe dozens of times to study it from different angles, and a detailed map of the surface. Europe is one of the main candidates in the solar system to the presence of extraterrestrial life in some form.The future of any lander visiting the Jovian moon, it is not defined. But it is not stopping so engineers and scientists from NASA's technology development to help implement such a mission.
Europe Photo taken by spacecraft "Voyager 2" July 9, 1979“Delivering a vehicle such as a floating all-terrain vehicle and other underwater probes into the oceans of Europe is a long-term goal that we hope to achieve someday,” said Kevin Peter Hand, project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. - He will appear on the planet after Clipper and the descent to the surface of the device. These preliminary missions will set the stage for passing through the ice and reaching the ocean. ”BRUIE has been in development since 2017. It looks like a hybrid of the ingenuity of the julvern style and the simplest machine possible: it's just one axle with two wheels the size of a big pizza.As the name suggests, BRUIE has positive buoyancy. The sea presses him to the ice from below, and he crawls there while his sensors collect various data. During field trials in Antarctica under the ice of O'Brien Bay near the Casey Antarctic station , an Australian base in the eastern part of the continent, the all-terrain vehicle successfully underwent three very cold three-hour trials.During the fourth, most important test, he was placed under ice for 42 hours 30 minutes. Andy Klesh, chief project engineer, drove the ATV from a laptop. And although the all-terrain vehicle can be controlled by satellite, during this mission, project engineer Dan Berisfold carefully pitted a thin yellow cable behind him.An all-terrain vehicle submerged in water crawled slowly but surely. The camera on board transmitted video streaming to the laptop, and showed even more alien views of the Antarctic than can be found on its surface. In addition to curious penguins, the continent looks empty and for the most part lifeless up to the horizon. However, a few meters below the surface, the all-terrain vehicle found extensive brown nets of seaweed clinging to ice. Fish swam to them and bit off a piece. Bubbles of oxygen accumulated as a result of photosynthesis.
In Europe, all the fun is hidden under the ice. If Jupiter’s satellite finally waits for an all-terrain vehicle capable of penetrating under its surface, it would be logical if it can crawl along the underside of the ice shell. Radiation chemistry and geophysics of the surface of Europe can provide a mechanism for supplying oxygen for life in its depths.To study such a life, an underwater all-terrain vehicle needs to be very careful. “If the engines of a conventional remote-controlled underwater device could sweep delicate algae from the bottom of the ice when approaching them, then BRUIE just gently sneaks under them on tiptoe,” said Daniel Arthur, a technologist working with Caltech and Western Australia University.The all-terrain vehicle analyzes the place of contact of ice and the ocean passively and is able to cover long distances, consuming very little energy - especially compared to drones made like a submarine. “There will not be enough energy in Europe,” said Arthur, “and we don’t want the propeller to ruin the first encounter of humanity with extraterrestrial life.”Physics, chemistry, and biology interact at the point where the Earth’s ice and ocean come in contact, said Alison Murray, an Antarctic specialist at the Nevada Desert Research Institute. On our planet, this zone is rich in microorganisms. “We want to understand the habitability of such border zones and the diversity of the organisms living there,” Murray said. “In both cases, we can better understand whether this border zone in the dark waters of Europe can support the existence of life.”Dr. Hand hopes that work on such devices will help advance the study of the Earth's cryosphere - those places where the ocean and ice meet. “I hope that the study of the European ocean will be able to motivate engineers to create similar devices that can work on planet Earth,” he said.
BRUIE before field trials in AntarcticaSource: https://habr.com/ru/post/undefined/
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