It turns out that submarines could have a big future in space exploration.
The subsurface oceans of the Jupiter moon Europe and Saturn Satellite Enceladus are perhaps the most tempting places to search in the solar system extraterrestrial life. But these water bodies remain out of reach, hundreds of millions of kilometers away and covered in thick ice crusts.
Now a European collaboration aims to break some of the technological and physical barriers holding back the future exploration of icy moons and their waters, using Antarctica as a testing ground.
Related: Hunters for extraterrestrial life are keeping an eye on the icy ocean moons Europa and Enceladus
The TRIPLE-nanoAUV 2 project (TRIPLE stands for “Technologies for Rapid Ice Penetration and subglacial Lake Exploration”, while AUV means “Autonomous Underwater Vehicle”) is building vessels that can push their way through ice and then release small submarines to explore it to explore in the dark. , unknown depths at the South Pole – or on icy moons.
The nano-AUVs will be very small – 50 centimeters long and 10 cm in diameter – allowing them to be placed inside an ice-melting probe. These will be supported by a Launch and Recovery System (LRS), which will act as an underwater docking station for AUVs, allowing them to transmit their collected data and recharge their batteries.
The project is coordinated by the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, known as MARUM, at the University of Bremen in Germany. The overall coordination of the TRIPLE project line, which includes TRIPLE-GNC and TRIPLE-LifeDetect, is carried out by the German space agency DLR as part of its Explorer initiatives.
The TRIPLE aspects will be jointly combined and tested in a field trial under the Antarctic Ice Shelf near the Neumayer III Station in spring 2026.
The tests themselves will be exciting, as it is thought there may be unknown ecosystems in the subglacial lakes beneath Antarctica’s continental ice.
Reaching these bodies of water, which are covered in up to 4,000 meters of ice, is a huge challenge, but it is also proving to be an excellent testing ground for technology for future life missions. icy moons.
“Such nanovehicles can contribute to a better general understanding of marine ecosystems,” says project leader Ralf Bachmayer from MARUM in a rack.
“The new autonomous system is unique and should make it possible in the future to study the global ocean of liquid water beneath the ocean’s icy surfaces. Jupiter‘s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Miniaturization is the main challenge in its development, with the probe dictating its overall size. In addition, all parts must be able to withstand the high pressure under water.”
Exploring Europa or Enceladus will present a series of serious challenges. These arise from the remoteness of the destinations, the extreme temperatures, radiation and other environmental conditions, communications, energy sources, communications with Earth, and the great unknown of the moons themselves. However, TRIPLE will be a start.
“The aim is to gain expertise within the DLR Explorer initiatives that can be used in a possible international space mission,” explains chief engineer Sebastian Meckel.
“In the first field tests, the melting probe will be deployed with the nanoAUV integrated as a payload in ice with a thickness of 100 meters [330 feet]. Additionally, the nanoAUV is underpowered compared to larger autonomous vehicles, meaning it has limited maneuverability. This requires extremely high reliability and close coordination between the employees of TRIPLE-GNC and TRIPLE-LifeDetect.”
NASA is currently preparing to send it Europa Clipper orbiter to the Jupiter system, with launch scheduled for October 2024. The mission will provide an invaluable boost to our understanding of this icy world, but future missions, possibly including systems such as AUVs, will be needed to plumb its deeper mysteries.
