When Galileo pointed his telescope at Jupiter 400 years ago, he thought the light was fixed stars. He noticed that the blobs were moving when he spotted a fourth one. The Ptolemaic view of the world was hit by Galileo's discovery of objects other than Earth.
The age of space exploration could not have been foreseen by Galileo. We are here 400 years later. The Earth doesn't occupy any of the central points. Many of the other planets will have their own moons. Galileo would be taken aback by this.
He spotted blobs of light, what would he think about robotic missions to look for them?
The moon of Jupiter is the most compelling target in the search for life in the solar system. There is an ice shell between 15 to 25 kilometres wide. The ocean is between 75 and 85 kilometres in thickness.
The smallest of the four Galilean moons could have more water than the planet. The water is warm and salty.
The frozen moon will be the site of NASA's exploration of its life-support potential. It won't send a probe to the surface, but it will perform a series of flybys of the moon.
One day, we will send a robotic explorer toEuropa. Sending a swarm ofrobots to exploreEuropa is the best way to do it. The SWIM concept is based on the idea of being able to sense independent swimmers.
$600,000 was given by a NASA program to develop a concept for a robot. This is the second round of funding that NASA has given to the engineer. He received a large amount of money in the first phase of the program.
The main idea behind the SWIM concept is to collect a larger sample size.
“What if, after all those years it took to get into an ocean, you come through the ice shell in the wrong place?”
Samuel Howell, SWIM Team Scientist.
The SWIM concept describes how a swarm of robots could be used in a mission to destinations like Enceladus. In order to travel through the ice shell to the ocean, a landers would have to reach the surface. Four dozen tiny robots about the size of a mobile phone would be deployed by the cryobot. The volume of the cryobot's instruments would allow it to collect data while in the ocean and through the ice.
The stationary surface lander is the communication point for Earth-based mission controllers. The small SWIM-robots would be independent.
Some of the problems associated with a mission toEuropa can be solved by gathering more robust data.
I want to find a way to apply mini-robots to explore our solar system in new ways. The person said, "Schauler said." With a swarm of small swimming robots, we are able to explore a much larger volume of ocean water and improve our measurements.
Another problem would be solved by the group of independent SWIM-bots. There is only one way to get through the ice shell. A hot nuclear power source would be used to propel the cryobot through the ice. The cryobot wouldn't travel beyond the point where it broke the ice and reached the ocean due to design constraints. Chemical reactions would change the nature of the water in the vicinity of the cryobot and the data would be degraded. The SWIM-robots could escape the heat and get a better picture of the ocean.
A scientist with NASA and JPL is involved in the mission. The team is working on the SWIM concept. It took a long time to get into the ocean, so what if you end up in the wrong place? If there are signs of life over there but not in the ocean, what would you do? We would be able to explore a lot more of our environment if we brought swarms ofrobots with us.
The little helicopter that traveled to Mars with the Perseverance Rover is similar to SWIM.
He said that the images the helicopter is sending back are context to help the rover understand how to explore its environment. You would know a lot more about your environment if you had a lot of helicopters. SWIM is based on that idea.
The individual bots could act together in a swarm if they wanted to. The search for life could be aided by this maneuver. Life basically feeds off of energy gradients. Life tries to make better and better copies of itself that spread through the environment. In one way, life exists to spread energy until no order exists in the Universe, but that is off topic. If you want to learn more about physics, life, and everything nice, read this.
Life can begin if there are energy and chemical differences. We would need to get upstream from the robot.
Instruments would be used to measure temperature and salinity. Each one will have its own communication systems.
The SWIM concept is a great way to explore the area. Some of the problems inherent in exploring an ocean buried under ice are dealt with in this book. Some of the moons may be hard to explore.
It has an ocean because of its location. Water is kept in its liquid state when the moon is around the gas planet. Jupiter emits powerful radiation when it's close to the water. NASA's mission to Jupiter is so powerful that it keeps its sensitive instruments in a titanium vault. The best of the radiation is avoided by following a polar circle. The titanium vault is degraded by radiation until the instruments are damaged.
The ice barrier would provide some protection for the SWIM-bots, though they will have to contend with the radiation.
It is a problem to get a spaceship onto the surface. Blocks of ice cover a fractured surface in some places. There are other areas with crevasses The penitentes may be up to 15 meters high. It could be difficult to land. Unlike Mars, where rovers study the surface in detail and can help mission planners find safe and scientifically valuable landing spots, Europa's surface is not well mapped. It isn't that well- understood. It is difficult to design a craft that can successfully touch down on the icy surface.
The SWIM concept is just a concept at the moment. It is hoped that the Clipper will be able to map the surface of the planet. The data from the Clipper should help the landers.
It is hoped that all the intellectual capital being spent on exploration will pay dividends. The Clipper won't reach Jupiter until the year 2030. It will take a long time for a mission to reach the surface. It might not be possible to pierce the ice and look at the ocean in the first mission.
We will get a spaceship there, and we will explore. If you are young enough, you may be able to hear the shouts of "Eureka!" when scientists announce the discovery of microbes in the ocean.
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