Name: This Nuclear Robot Could Tunnel for Alien Life on Europa
Uploaded: 2020-03-30T03:51:56.000Z
Duration: 3 min 14 s
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Right now, you're looking at a rendering of a nuclear-powered tunneling robot designed

At the American Geophysical Union's conference in December 2018, scientists gathered from

around the world to present their concepts for future space missions.

There were dragonfly inspired drones for Titan, probes designed to take the temperature of

Io's volcanoes, but perhaps the coolest of them all, was a tunneling worm robot designed

The bot was designed by NASA's COMPASS team, a group of engineers tasked with ideating

system designs for space exploration missions.

And Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, is a prime target because, well, there might be life

For years, scientists have suspected Europa has an iron core, a rocky mantle, and a global

And, in 2013, the Hubble Space Telescope observed possible evidence of plumes of water on Europa's

surface, suggesting it's geologically active.

Scientists even think there could be hydrothermal vents on its seafloor supporting all kinds

So obviously we want to go there and take a swim.

But the oceans lie beneath an estimated 15-25 kilometers of ice, which makes exploring them

That's where the tunneling robot comes in.

About 5 meters in length, the robot is covered with hotplates that would melt the ice during

Onboard, the bot would carry all sorts of instruments and equipment allowing it to take

It would also have cables or a flotation device to keep it from sinking once it reaches Europa's

ocean, so it can just hang there, stickin' its nose into the alien bikini bottom.

All the data gathered would then be transmitted via fiber optic cables back to a lander at

Oh yeah, and the whole thing is either powered by General Purpose Heat Source bricks containing

plutonium, or an onboard nuclear reactor.

General Purpose Heat Source modules rely on the radioactive decay of plutonium, and they've

But the U.S. hasn't launched a nuclear fission reactor since 1965.

For the last few years though, they've been revisiting fission with their Kilopower project,

an effort to find affordable nuclear fission systems that could provide the increased power

Kilopower systems are already being tested, so it's possible a future iteration could

Which brings us to the question, what's the timeline for this project?

Well, NASA's Europa Clipper mission is slated for sometime in the 2020s.

But as of now, that mission only includes an orbiter, and for the tunneling worm to

NASA has hinted at a possible Europa lander mission, but there's nothing concrete yet.

That being said, the probe was commissioned by NASA, so there's clearly interest in

And with the tantalizing possibility of finding life on Europa, it's probably only a matter

of time before we try to peek under its shell.

But in the meantime- I guess we can hope a Hollywood director has seen these sketches

and is gonna make a kick-ass sci-fi movie about tunneling alien robots??

Want more videos about insane space mission designs from the COMPASS Team?

As always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time on Seeker.

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This Nuclear Robot Could Tunnel for Alien Life on Europa

insane

effort

general

purpose