9621 Agnes Crossing, Lake Suzanneview, New Mexico Island 84604-9295.
Engineers raced to test robotic prototypes of an ambitious mission concept—a swarm of underwater explorers searching for signs of life on alien ocean worlds. Future NASA missions will
Engineers raced to test robotic prototypes of an ambitious mission concept—a swarm of underwater explorers searching for signs of life on alien ocean worlds. Future NASA missions will deploy advanced robots to Europa to explore its icy oceans. Robots that are part of the SWIM project have been extensively tested through simulations to operate on Earth and in extraterrestrial environments.
When NASA’s Europa Clipper reaches Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2030, it will conduct 49 flybys using powerful scientific instruments to search for evidence that the ocean beneath Europa’s icy crust could support life. The spacecraft, launched on October 14, is equipped with the most advanced scientific technology ever sent to the outer solar system. But even as they embark on their missions, NASA teams are developing the next generation of robotic explorers to dive deeper into Europa’s hidden ocean and beyond and push the boundaries of scientific discovery.
One such innovative concept is called SWIM, which stands for Sensing by Independent Microswimmers. This project involves the deployment of a group of small self-propelled robots, each about the size of a cell phone. These robots will be delivered to the underground ocean by an ice-melting cryobot. Once released, they will disperse and explore, looking for chemical and temperature signals that may indicate the presence of life.
“People may ask why NASA is developing an underwater robot for space exploration. Because there are places in the solar system that we want to go to look for life, and we believe that life needs water. “So we need robots that can explore this environment autonomously, hundreds of millions of miles away from home,” said Ethan Schaler, SWIM principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
A series of SWIM concept prototypes in development at JPL recently tested the waters of the 25-yard (23-meter) competition pool at the Cal Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The results were encouraging.
The SWIM team’s latest iteration is a 3D-printed plastic prototype based on low-cost, commercially produced motors and electronics. Propelled by two propellers with four control blades, the prototype demonstrated controlled maneuverability, the ability to stay in place and correct its course, as well as a forward-aft “lawnmower” research design. He managed all of this autonomously, without direct intervention from the team. The robot even wrote “JPL”.
The robot was attached to a fishing rod in case it needed to be rescued, and an engineer pulling the rod ran across the pool during each test. Nearby, a colleague was reviewing the robot’s actions and sensor data on a laptop. The team tested various prototypes for more than 20 rounds in a pool and a pair of tanks at JPL.
“It’s great to build a robot from scratch and see it perform successfully in the right environment,” Schaler said. “Underwater work in general is very challenging, and this is only the first of a series of projects we need to work on to prepare for the Ocean World journey. But this is proof that we can build these robots with the capabilities we need, and we are beginning to understand the challenges they will face on underground missions.”
The wedge-shaped prototype used in most of the pool testing was approximately 16.5 inches (42 centimeters) long and weighed 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms). Robots designed for spaceflight will be approximately three times smaller compared to existing remote-controlled and autonomous underwater scientific instruments. The palm-sized swimmers will feature miniature, specially designed parts and use a new wireless underwater acoustic communication system to transmit data and triangulate their positions.
Digital versions of these little robots passed their own tests in a computer simulation, not in a pool. In an environment with the same pressure and gravity they are likely to encounter on Europa, the virtual swarm of 5-inch (12-centimeter) robots searched several times for potential signs of life. Computer simulations helped identify the limits of robots’ ability to collect scientific data in an unknown environment and led to the development of algorithms that would enable the swarm to explore more efficiently.
The simulations also helped the team better understand how to maximize scientific returns, given trade-offs between battery life (up to two hours) and the volume of water swimmers can explore (about 3 million cubic feet, or 86,000 cubic meters). and the number of robots in a swarm (a dozen sent in four or five waves).
In addition, a team of collaborators at Georgia Tech in Atlanta developed and tested an ocean composition sensor that would allow each robot to simultaneously measure temperature, pressure, acidity or alkalinity, conductivity, and chemistry. This chip, just a few square millimeters in size, is the first to combine all these sensors in a small package.
Of course, such an advanced concept needs to work for several more years to be ready, among other things, for a possible flight mission to the icy moon in the future. Meanwhile, Schaler predicts that SWIM’s robots could be developed for scientific work right here at home: to support oceanographic research or to make critical measurements under polar ice.
SWIM is an innovative NASA project managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (JPL) and funded through NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which supports the development of visionary ideas for future space exploration. The project involves a series of small autonomous floating robots designed to probe the subsurface oceans on icy moons such as Europa for signs of life. Sent by an ice-melting cryobot, these cellphone-sized robots will deploy to detect chemical and temperature signals that could indicate habitability or life.
Supported by NIAC Phases I and II under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, SWIM is part of a program to evaluate advanced technologies that could transform future missions. Researchers from the U.S. government, industry, and academia are encouraged to contribute to this initiative that pushes the boundaries of aerospace research.
Source: Port Altele
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
