NASA is developing small robots to swim the subsurface seas of other world:
Some of the most promising places to look for alien life beyond Earth are the hidden oceans that lie beneath thick icy shells on other worlds like Saturn's moon Enceladus. NASA is funding research to develop tiny, swimming robots that could search these darkened depths for marine extra-terrestrials.
Plumes of liquid water erupt into space through fissures in Enceladus's frozen surface and when NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew through that cosmic mist, it detected interesting molecules that are often associated with the presence of life, like methane.
NASA engineer Ethan Schaler has developed a concept involving an ice-melting probe and a school of cell phone-size aquatic drones to explore such eerie environments. It's called Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (SWIM), and it has recently received funding to create and test 3D-printed prototypes.
[...] The triangular swimming robots could be loaded into a larger "cryobot" design that tunnels its way through the ice by melting it, perhaps using radiation. Cryobot concepts are currently in development through other NASA programs.
[...] It will be some time before the little bots could touch an alien ocean. The concept isn't currently attached to any NASA mission to such a world. But the upcoming Europa Clipper mission to the Jovian moon of the same name will certainly provide valuable data from another frozen world hiding a subterranean sea. It launches in 2024 with a planned arrival at Europa in 2030.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Saturday July 02 2022, @10:39AM (3 children)
Other worlds/planets oceans? How about exploring and mapping out own worlds oceans first? I guess there is ample room here for testing since we are in large living with the unknown when it comes to our own oceans. Sure we know the surface area more or less but we don't have to do to deep a dive to be in a strange new world. For all we know the Aliens are at the bottom of "our" ocean.
"Yet for all of our reliance on the ocean, more than eighty percent of this vast, underwater realm remains unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. "
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html [noaa.gov]
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday July 02 2022, @09:34PM (1 child)
How much of that should we do before we are permitted to explore other places? What's the priority list? Shouldn't we cure hunger and cancer first, and stop global warming?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday July 03 2022, @09:57AM
Stop being silly. It's not about permission. It was more about why would you go investigate other planets when you have not even investigated your own planet yet. Why fly to another planet to do a deep dive in their oceans when you have oceans of your own that clearly needs investigating to. They are a lot closer in that regard, no need for the long and annoying space flight before you get there. But please do cure hunger, cure cancer and stop global warming. They are not mutually exclusive either.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 03 2022, @12:34AM
NOAA does their thing and NASA does theirs. There is overlap in some places, but their main focus are on different things.
What about Paul Allen? Didn't he build himself a submarine to go with his super yacht?
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Saturday July 02 2022, @01:05PM
Keep the microbial aliens hidden until 2077.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]