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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: 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)
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:14PM (1 child)
Bots are the 21st century slaves.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(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...
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