NASA engineers are now testing robot prototypes for an ambitious mission to explore ocean worlds with autonomous underwater vehicles. The mission concept, called SWIM (Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers), involves several mini-submarines that can search for signs of life beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Europa Clipper mission
In 2030, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will reach Jupiter and begin exploring Europa, making 49 flybys of the moon. It is equipped with advanced scientific instruments to collect data on the subsurface ocean that could potentially support life. But even as Europa Clipper is being prepared, scientists are developing the next generation of robots capable of penetrating beneath the ice crust of Jupiter’s moon to reach the ocean.
SWIM concept
The SWIM project involves delivering a swarm of microrobots into the subsurface ocean using a separate cryobot that will drill the surface by melting ice. The mobile phone-sized robots will autonomously move and analyze the environment, looking for chemical and temperature signatures that could indicate the presence of life.
According to Ethan Schaler, principal investigator of the project from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), such innovations are necessary to explore places in the Solar System where water is key to the existence of life.
Prototype testing
SWIM prototypes created using 3D printing have been successfully tested in a California Institute of Technology swimming pool. The robots, equipped with inexpensive motors and electronics, demonstrated autonomous maneuvering, the ability to stay in a given position and perform complex movements. One of the robots even wrote the word J-P-L in the water.
Engineers conducted more than 20 experiments in the pool and special tanks. According to Schaler, this is the first step toward creating robots that can operate in the extreme environments of other planets.
Features and prospects
The final robot design will be three times smaller than the prototypes demonstrated. The tiny submarines will be equipped with miniaturized sensors that will measure the temperature, pressure, acidity, conductivity and chemical composition of the water. A new wireless acoustic communication system will also be used for data transmission and triangulating their positions.
Computer simulations have already shown how several such robots can effectively collect scientific data in environments like Europa. The simulations helped determine the optimal balance between the duration of the operation, the volume of water to be explored, and the number of robots in the swarm.
Additional research
A team at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a multipurpose sensor for robots that combines several sensing functions in an area of just a few millimeters. This will ensure that different ocean parameters can be analyzed simultaneously.
The SWIM project is funded through NASA’s NIAC (“Innovative Advanced Concepts”) program. It not only paves the way for exploring the subsurface oceans of icy moons such as Europa, but also has potential for applications on Earth, such as studying the oceans and polar regions.
SWIM is an innovative step in expanding the frontiers of space research. While the work will require several more years of development, its success could change the approach to studying ocean worlds and the search for extraterrestrial life.
We’ve previously covered which worlds in the solar system could be home to extraterrestrial life.
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