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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: 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.