Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter's 53 satellites and one of the most suitable satellites in our solar system to accommodate alien life. Researchers believe that its ice layer hides a sea of liquid water, and the heat and chemical components needed for life may be transported to the ocean through the vents of the ice layer. Researchers from NASA Glenn Research Compass Group (a group of scientists and engineers scattered all over the country are responsible for solving problems for NASA) believe that they proposed a "tunnel" (12, 14) at the 20 18 meeting of the American Geophysical Union held on Friday. The researchers report that this will use nuclear energy to melt a path through Europa's shell, "carrying a payload and searching for ... evidence of existing/extinct life." [Humanoid robot to flying car: 10 coolest DARPA project]
In tunnels, advanced nuclear reactors or some radioactive "universal hot bricks" of NASA can be used to generate heat and energy, although this radiation will bring some design challenges.
Once on the frozen moon, the tunnel will pass through the ice, and at the same time look for smaller lakes inside the shell, or look for evidence that the ice itself may contain life. When it goes deep, it will spit out a long optical cable behind it, leading to the surface, and deploy communication relays at depths of 3, 6 and 9 miles (5, 10, 15 km).
Once it reaches the liquid ocean, in order to prevent "falling", it will deploy cables or floating devices to lock its position, the researchers wrote:
At this stage, this is only a rough theoretical suggestion. The researchers haven't really designed the payload for sampling Europa's water and ice, nor have they figured out how to send the tunnel to the moon. As previously reported by Live Science, this task has brought some major mysteries and challenges (such as the possible devastating spikes of giant robots).
It is still a fascinating window to see what Europa's robot mission will look like in the future, and how we can finally begin to explore whether there is life on the distant moon.
Originally published in the journal Life Science.