Scientists are always finding new ways to search for life on other worlds, either directly through chemical analysis or indirectly through satellite imagery. Examples include various landers and rovers to the Moon and Mars, and ongoing scientific research from planetary orbiters. What if we could use the ice deposits to search for life and better understand the history of these mysterious and intriguing worlds?

One of these proposed technologies is the Melter-Sublimator for Ice Science (MSIS), which, as the name suggests, probes ice cores for chemical, biological and elemental analysis, not only providing a more detailed record of planetary bodies such as the Moon. , Mars, Europa, Enceladus, but may also allow us to better understand supernovas and space weather through a collection of cosmogenic nuclei, rare isotopes created by cosmic rays.

The proposed tasks for glaciology are not new, with some suggesting drilling or melting a path to a target. With MSIS, the goal will be to process and examine the ice sample after it has been removed, not to pierce or heat the path to the sample.

“MSIS uses two methods to pretreat ice cores: melting and sublimation, which can be used in combination,” Alexander Chipps, a mechanical engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology and lead author of the study, told Space. com. “The melter contains heating elements that, when turned on, allow the core to melt from the melting head. The melting head is designed to separate the outer, contaminated surface of the core (by removing and processing the ice core) from the clean core. A thinner applies a vacuum to the core, causing the ice to convert to water vapor and keeping the other contents of the core in a reduced volume, allowing for pre-concentration of an ice core. In its current state, MSIS requires manual loading of an ice core instance.’