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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, 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.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(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...