Right now, you’re looking at a rendering of a nuclear-powered tunneling robot designed
to find life on Europa.
Look at that big ol’ alaskan bull worm!
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
to bore through Europa’s icy shell!
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
there.
For years, scientists have suspected Europa has an iron core, a rocky mantle, and a global
ocean of liquid water.
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
of alien life!
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
a challenge.
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
its descent into the deep unknown.
Onboard, the bot would carry all sorts of instruments and equipment allowing it to take
samples as it goes.
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
the surface.
Oh yeah, and the whole thing is either powered by General Purpose Heat Source bricks containing
plutonium, or an onboard nuclear reactor.
Rad.
General Purpose Heat Source modules rely on the radioactive decay of plutonium, and they’ve
been used frequently in NASA missions.
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
needed for space travel.
Kilopower systems are already being tested, so it’s possible a future iteration could
be used for the nuclear worm bot.
Which brings us to the question, what’s the timeline for this project?
When will the big worm get to fly?
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
be used, there would need to be lander.
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
the feasibility of a design like this.
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??
Yeah, I would definitely watch that.
Want more videos about insane space mission designs from the COMPASS Team?
Let us know in the comments!
As always, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time on Seeker.