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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the boring-story dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)

    by Freeman (732) on Wednesday December 19 2018, @04:55PM (#776376) Journal

    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.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:23PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:23PM (#776392) Journal

    https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm18/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/461317 [confex.com]

    Communications are thus provided by three repeaters that are deployed at 5, 10, and 15 km, and are connected to the tunnelbot by fiber optic cable. The repeaters boost the optical signal or provide an RF link if that segment of fiber is broken.

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