{"id":791613,"date":"2024-12-01T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T13:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=791613"},"modified":"2024-12-01T08:38:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T13:38:00","slug":"nasa-testing-underwater-robots-to-explore-ocean-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=791613","title":{"rendered":"NASA testing underwater robots to explore ocean worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_493523\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-493523\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-493523\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Underwater robots like these \u2013 pictured during a pool test at Caltech in September 2024 \u2013 could one day explore subsurface oceans of icy moons. The testing showed the feasibility of a swarm of mini swimming robots. Image via NASA\/ JPL-Caltech.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter in 2030<\/strong>, it\u2019ll study the ocean that lies beneath the moon Europa\u2019s icy crust <em>from orbit<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NASA is already preparing for a possible follow-up mission<\/strong>, in which swimming robots could <em>explore the watery depths<\/em> of Europa and other ocean moons.<\/li>\n<li><strong>These engineers and scientists recently tested an autonomous prototype robot<\/strong>, which successfully explored a swimming pool.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NASA published this original story on November 20, 2024. Edits by EarthSky.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 EarthSky Lunar Calendar is now available! Makes a great gift. Get yours today!<\/p>\n<h3>Underwater robots under development <\/h3>\n<p>When NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter in 2030, it will aim an array of powerful instruments toward Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa. During 49 flybys, it\u2019ll look down from orbit, hoping to spot any signs that the ocean beneath the moon\u2019s icy crust might sustain life. But teams are already developing the next generation of spacecraft technology, which could potentially send underwater robots plunging <em>into <\/em>the watery depths of Europa and other ocean worlds. <\/p>\n<p>In September 2024, a team at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tested a series of underwater robot prototypes in a swimming pool at Caltech, Pasadena. And they say the results were encouraging.<\/p>\n<p>The mission concept is called SWIM, short for Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers. The project envisions a swarm of dozens of self-propelled, cellphone-size swimming robots that, once delivered to a subsurface ocean by an ice-melting cryobot, would zoom off, looking for chemical and temperature signals that could indicate life.<\/p>\n<p>Ethan Schaler, principal investigator for SWIM, said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>People might ask, why is NASA developing an underwater robot for space exploration? It\u2019s because there are places we want to go in the solar system to look for life, and we think life needs water. So we need robots that can explore those environments autonomously, hundreds of millions of miles from home.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NASA Tests Swimming Robots for Exploring Oceans on Icy Moons\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sz0SWy7bCzU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>See the underwater robots in action in this video, via NASA\/ JPL-Caltech.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>SWIM practice<\/h3>\n<p>The SWIM team\u2019s latest version is a 3D-printed plastic prototype that relies on low-cost, commercially made motors and electronics. Pushed along by two propellers, with four flaps for steering, the prototype demonstrated controlled maneuvering, the ability to stay on and correct its course, and a back-and-forth \u201clawnmower\u201d exploration pattern. It managed all of this autonomously, without the team\u2019s direct intervention. The robot even spelled out \u201cJ-P-L.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just in case the robot needed rescuing, it was attached to a fishing line, and an engineer toting a fishing rod trotted alongside the pool during each test. Nearby, a colleague reviewed the robot\u2019s actions and sensor data on a laptop. The team completed more than 20 rounds of testing various prototypes at the pool and in a pair of tanks at JPL.<\/p>\n<p>Schaler said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s awesome to build a robot from scratch and see it successfully operate in a relevant environment. Underwater robots in general are very hard, and this is just the first in a series of designs we\u2019d have to work through to prepare for a trip to an ocean world. But it\u2019s proof that we can build these robots with the necessary capabilities and begin to understand what challenges they would face on a subsurface mission.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_493529\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-493529\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/11\/NASA-Swarm-robot-prototype-alaska-2023.png\" alt=\"View of a glacier, with peaks in the distance next to a sun low in the horizon, tents on the right, and in the foreground on the ice, a complex dark capsule with orange rope, and a very small black triangle robot, emblazoned with the NASA logo.\" width=\"650\" height=\"867\" class=\"size-full wp-image-493529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/11\/NASA-Swarm-robot-prototype-alaska-2023.png 650w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/11\/NASA-Swarm-robot-prototype-alaska-2023-225x300.png 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-493529\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A model of the final envisioned SWIM robot, right, sits beside a capsule holding an ocean-composition sensor. The sensor was tested on an Alaskan glacier in July 2023 through a JPL-led project called ORCAA (Ocean Worlds Reconnaissance and Characterization of Astrobiological Analogs). Image via NASA\/ JPL-Caltech.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Tiny underwater robots<\/h3>\n<p>The wedge-shaped prototype used in most of the pool tests was about 16.5 inches (42 centimeters) long, weighing 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms). When ready for spaceflight, the robots would have dimensions about three times smaller. That\u2019s tiny, compared to existing remotely operated and autonomous underwater scientific vehicles. <\/p>\n<p>The palm-size swimmers would feature miniaturized, purpose-built parts. And they\u2019d employ a novel sound-based communication system for transmitting data and triangulating their positions underwater.<\/p>\n<h3>Swarm science <\/h3>\n<p>Digital versions of these little robots got their own test, not in a pool but in a computer simulation. In an environment with the same pressure and gravity they would likely encounter on Europa, a virtual swarm of 5-inch-long (12-centimeter-long) robots repeatedly went looking for potential signs of life. <\/p>\n<p>The computer simulations helped determine the limits of the robots\u2019 abilities to collect science data in an unknown environment. And they led to the development of algorithms that would enable the swarm to explore more efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>The simulations also helped the team better understand how to maximize science return while accounting for tradeoffs between battery life (up to two hours), the volume of water the swimmers could explore (about 3 million cubic feet, or 86,000 cubic meters), and the number of robots in a single swarm (a dozen, sent in four to five waves).<\/p>\n<p>In addition, a team of collaborators at Georgia Tech in Atlanta fabricated and tested an ocean composition sensor that would enable each robot to simultaneously measure temperature, pressure, acidity or alkalinity, conductivity, and chemical makeup. Just a few millimeters square, the chip is the first to combine all those sensors in one tiny package.<\/p>\n<h3>More testing to come<\/h3>\n<p>Such an advanced concept would require several more years of work to be ready for a possible future flight mission to an icy moon. In the meantime, Schaler imagines SWIM robots potentially being further developed to do science work right here at home. They could be used to support oceanographic research, or take critical measurements underneath polar ice.<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: NASA is testing prototypes for underwater robots that could one day explore our solar system\u2019s subsurface oceans.<\/p>\n<p>Source: NASA Ocean World Explorers Have to Swim Before They Can Fly<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Underwater robots to explore beneath Antarctic ice<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>EarthSky Voices<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Members of the EarthSky community &#8211; including scientists, as well as science and nature writers from across the globe &#8211; weigh in on what&#8217;s important to them.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/nasa-testing-underwater-robots-to-explore-ocean-worlds\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Underwater robots like these \u2013 pictured during a pool test at Caltech in September 2024 \u2013 could one day explore subsurface oceans of icy moons. The testing showed the feasibility&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":791614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=791613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/791614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=791613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=791613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=791613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}