Cryobot: an ice penetrating robotic vehicle for Mars and Europa

Abstract

NASA's desire to study and characterize the solar system will be done by in-situ robotic systems in the near term. Specific interest is focused towards finding water on Mars and understanding both the climatic and depositional history of the planet. In the case of Europa, scientists desire to unravel the mysteries surrounding the thick ice crust, its chemical properties, and subsurface ocean properties. For both Mars and Europa, the major scientific interest is whether there are signs of past or extant life in either the Mars polar ice, or the sub-ice ocean of Europa. The best way to explore either of these environments is a cryobot mole vehicle, which carries a suite of instruments suitable for sampling and analyzing the ice or ocean environments. JPL is currently developing a unique robotic vehicle, which utilizes gravity, and both passive and active heating systems to drive ice to a melt state, in order to facilitate mobility. This paper describes the science driven requirements for such a vehicle, a description of the cryobot design, and results of recent performance tests in both clean and dust laden ice. Although a radioisotope power system for a flight version of the cryobot is currently baselined, no decision on the final design of the flight cryobot will be made until the environmental review process is complete. Any use of the cryobot for Mars or Europa will conform to all environmental and planetary protection requirements.