NASA tested the prototype of the European ice drilling system, Jupiter’s satellite

The other day, NASA in field conditions checked the operation of the system of thermal drilling (melting) of ice. Such a system is likely to be used by a research vehicle, a drone sent to Europe, the satellite of Jupiter.

In this case, the system was named VALKYRIE (by reference - technical description of the system, pdf). Tests were conducted in Alaska, the glacier Matanuska.
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By the way, the flight to Europe is closer in time than it seems to many. Next year NASA gets 15 million for a research program to create a robot subglacier for Europe. The mission itself can be carried out using the Space Launch System heavyweight ship, the first launch of which (test) is scheduled for 2017.

This system can reduce the time required for a flight from Earth to Jupiter, from six years to two. Whatever it was, the unmanned expedition to Europe, the satellite of Jupiter, can be carried out as early as 2022. True, the first apparatus launched to Europe will not sink to the surface of the satellite of Jupiter. Most likely, it will be an orbiter that will allow you to learn a lot about Europe itself, about the endogenous and exogenous processes of this cosmic body.

I think everyone has already heard that scientists assume the presence of an under-ice ocean in Europe, which lies deep beneath a layer of ice, and which may well be inhabited (at least populated with microorganisms, and that is good). In 1979, Voyager-2, which, flying past, made high-quality images of the surface of Europe, caused suspicions about the possible presence of water under the ice. It turned out that there are very few impact craters on the ice, much less than it should be. Scientists have suggested that the cause is liquid water, which, pouring onto the surface of Europe, and again freezing, closes the gaps in the ice armor.

Suspicions were confirmed by Galileo, which received even better pictures of Europe in 1999. The pictures show that the ice on the surface of Europe is covered with cracks, from which, in fact, water may hit the surface.

In general, the idea of ​​an expedition to Europe is maturing and developing, slowly beginning to be realized.

Let's return to our driller. This system was called a cryobot, and it should be noted that this is not the first cryobot designed by scientists. One of the most successful cryobots was designed in the NASA laboratory back in 2001. Then the apparatus drilled a hole in the Svalbard glacier (Norway), 23 meters deep.

Early projects of cryobots were not very realistic due to one “small” problem. The thickness of Europe’s ice can be about 30 kilometers, and the energy of any, even a very capacious, battery is not enough to drill at least a small part of such a sequence. But there is a solution: it is a small power source with nuclear fuel. Such a source is planned to be installed on a VALKYRIE cryobot.



International laws prohibit the testing of devices with such a power source (atomic energy) on glaciers, so scientists have found another way out.

The device was equipped with a system based on optical fiber through which a 5000-watt laser passed. This is a more efficient way of supplying energy for heat generation by a “heat drill” than in the case of using ordinary electrical cables, so the device can make deeper drill holes. Device size: 1.6 meters in length and 0.45 m in width. The rate of ice penetration is about a meter per hour. Of course, the cryobot sent to Europe will be more powerful and more. The test model was able to drill ice to a depth of 30 meters, which is the current record among cryobots.

The model, which will be sent to Europe, will also be equipped with a sensor system that allows you to “find” obstacles in the ice so that the cryobot can go around them (boulders can be frozen in the ice, which are beyond the control of the thermal borax).

The development is being carried out in such a way that it would be possible to introduce another robot into the full-fledged cryobot model, which will dive under the ice of Europe after VALKYRIE has drilled a layer of ice.

Next year, the system will be tested on the aforementioned glacier, and this will be the updated VALKYRIE, with a 3D radar and a small biochemical “laboratory” on board that will check for life in the water under the ice.

The last test of VALKYRIE on Earth is an attempt to drill 3 km of ice in one of the South Pole lakes.



Via newscientist