No, NASA hasn’t gone all cuckoo on us, and they really do have a great point to make on why a robotic eel is just the perfect thing to explore Jupiter’s Europa.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, considering that NASA wants to explore Saturn’s moon, Titan, with a submarine.
The amphibious worm-like robot that you can see in the picture just down below is actually a rover outfitted specifically for Europa’s icy climes, and it’s quite different from the previously underwater-used robotical fish called Deep-SCINI which was used to discover new species of fish in the deep seas beneath Antarctica.
There aren’t any power outlets on Titan, go figure, so where’s the robotic eel going to take its energy from? Well NASA is looking into implementing a sort of antenna that could harness the power from “locally changing magnetic fields.” – this is slowly starting to become a science-fiction tale.
15 different proposals were awarded $100,000 each in NASA’s phase one of Innovative Advanced Concepts, or for short NIAC. If the concepts prove to work, the second phase will commence, and it will consist of a $500,000 funding for the winner.
Amongst the robotic eel, there are also other toys that dwell in the science-fiction department.
An unmanned pair of gliders that could do the exact same type things as orbital satellites is one to look out of. When stacked, they could work together to keep themselves in Earth’s atmosphere for basically years – and they also cost a ton less than what orbital satellites are made of.
The next piece of gear that has got my attention is ” robotic crawlers, hoppers and soccer-ball style buckey-bots” – I beg your pardon? What? They are inexpensive, and could possibly map locations and look for water and nitrogen. Their creators have decided to name them CRICKET, which stands for Cryogenic Reservoir Inventory by Cost-Effective Kinetically Enhanced Technology.
Please note that all of these new toys have not yet been proven to work properly, and are still in concept phase, but when proof comes out, be sure that you, dear reader, will be amongst the first to know.
What do you think? Will NASA employ a robotic eel to do its bidding? Or CRICKET will reign supreme?
