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Scientists Proposed a Nuclear 'Tunnelbot' to Hunt Life in Europa's Hidden Ocean
A group of scientists wants to send a nuclear-powered "tunnelbot" to Europa to blaze a path through the Jovian moon's thick shell of ice and search for life. [...] On Friday (Dec. 14) at the 2018 meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the researchers presented a proposal for a "tunnelbot" that would use nuclear power to melt a path through Europa's shell, "carrying a payload that can search for... evidence for extant/extinct life."
The tunnelbot, the researchers reported, could use either an advanced nuclear reactor or some of NASA's radioactive "general-purpose heat bricks" to generate heat and power, though the radiation would present some design challenges.
Once on the frozen moon, the tunnelbot would move through the ice, also hunting for smaller lakes inside the shell or evidence that the ice itself might contain life. As it burrows deeper, it would spit out a long fiber-optic cable behind itself leading up to the surface and deploy communications relays at depths of 3, 6 and 9 miles (5, 10 and 15 kilometers). Once it reaches the liquid ocean, to keep from "falling through," it would deploy cables or a floatation device to lock itself in place, the researchers wrote.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:27PM
And when they find it, trigger the autodestruct sequence. That's the only way to be sure.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:30PM (1 child)
I wish them luck with this, but there are some forms of ice that are harder than rock and stronger than steel.
This is why an iceberg was able to unzip the Titanic like a knife through butter.
It might be better to land a few drilling rigs first to drill for icecore samples and analyze those to ensure the little nuclear tunneler could even make it through before we try this extremely complex mission.
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Wednesday December 19 2018, @01:52PM
That's why they're melting through the ice instead of cutting through it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 19 2018, @01:51PM (10 children)
I am glad to see more serious plans to explore Europa. The last two decades of Mars exploration have been great for those of us who would like to see humans colonize that world, but to be honest Europa, Enceladus, and even Titan are better candidates for finding non-terrestrial life. That discovery would be the most important in human history. Actually, finding no life there would be just as significant, because either way it would tell us a lot about what to expect for the potential for life in the rest of the universe.
It also seems like Antarctica's ice sheet gives us the perfect environment to test something like tunnelbot, in much the same way its dry valleys have helped us test for Mars.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday December 19 2018, @02:15PM (4 children)
Moving on:
Turns out that the Antarctica Treaty precludes testing of nuclear-powered probes (not such a problem in Greenland however). They can still test designs that are powered in other ways (for example, laser-powered [springer.com]).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:11PM (1 child)
If the on-board nuclear power source is intended to produce a lot of heat and a bit of electricity, you should be able to mimic it for arctic testing by tethering a non-nuclear version to a power source.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:22PM
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:33PM (1 child)
McMurdo Station uses a nuclear power plant, but nuclear powered probes aren't allowed? Not that I don't believe you, but it doesn't seem very consistent.
The search for life on Europa is a pretty compelling reason, scientifically speaking. Maybe they can shoe-horn one more exception to the non-nuclear rule in Antarctica.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 19 2018, @07:16PM
If the nuclear plant at McMurdo Station gets decommissioned, they can ship the waste out with minimum fuss. If a nuclear-powered probe stops working under 2000 meters of ice...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @03:01PM (4 children)
"Most important" exactly how?
I mean, what are the consequences on the future of humanity or its development?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:19PM (3 children)
If we find life in these extreme solar system environments, we can start to assume that life is dirt common in the galaxy.
It would probably accelerate efforts to directly image exoplanets (which could be enough to find life on them without visiting them). Even if we don't find evidence of large life forms (plants, vertebrates, etc.), we'll locate any habitable exoplanets "nearby". Then we could talk about sending humans on interstellar voyages to these places. We could use life extension, suspended animation/deep freezing, generation ships, or embryo space colonizers.
The end result is that humans could occupy multiple star systems and be well on their way to spreading throughout the entire galaxy.
Aside from all that, it would be a huge cultural event, and probably have religious implications as well.
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(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:49PM (2 children)
Meatbags in space: for the fulfillment of earthlings' utopic science fiction (and for aliens' most dystopian tales, at the same time)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:14PM (1 child)
Bots are the 21st century slaves.
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(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:20PM
Our wage is in watt/hours. Fail delivering a sufficient amount and we literally won't lift a finger anymore...
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @03:02PM (5 children)
What is to be done with the nuclear fuel/waste when the mission is done? Just drop it where ever the probe ends up? Sounds like an ecological problem - one that we will create off-Earth, and would be 100% our responsibility. To me this doesn't sound like the best approach. How will the nuclear fuel/waste affect life if life is there? How about in 100 years? Or 1000 years?
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:14PM
Don't they use plutonium for RTGs? They'd just be arming the alien invaders!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:34PM (1 child)
^This is why the mission will never get off the ground. The word "nuclear " is tainted. Get that through your head Mr. Scientists. Call it any thing but nuclear! Unicorn ice melter, weak force energy siphon, anything but nuclear and the anti-nukes won't even notice because their trigger word is gone.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:21PM
NASA's Kilopower Nuclear Reactor Exceeds Expectations in Tests [soylentnews.org]
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(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday December 20 2018, @10:53AM (1 child)
I wonder if there exist radionuclides with an appropriate half life (~10 yrs) and no nasty decay products?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday December 20 2018, @11:00AM
Google tells me that, for example, tritium has a half life of 12 years and decays to 3He via beta decay... which doesnt make much secondary radiation and can be managed by appropriate shielding. Tritium occurs naturally in solar fusion so it would not be a "pollutant". It is an ingredient in H-bombs I believe, so probably US government has expertise in tritium production.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 19 2018, @03:09PM
This sounds like a job for SpaceX and The Boring Company.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)
Hopefully that fiber-optic cable will be more resistant to stress than the ones I've seen. You can put twisted pair through all manner of abuse and it'll still work, fiber-optic cable, is much more breakable.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:23PM
https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm18/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/461317 [confex.com]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @07:35PM
maybe someone should send a dvd of some of these sci fi movies where astronauts discover life and all hell breaks loose? furthermore to quote ned flanders "there are some things we don't want to know. Important things!"