Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons that is covered in ice. Underneath the ice though, it has a salty ocean. According to scientists, it is most likely to host life forms.
The American Geophysical Union recently proposed a way to reach the ocean surface. This will be done by melting the ice with a nuclear-powered robot. The ice is expected to be anywhere between 2 to 30 km thick. To overcome this challenge, NASA established a team called COMPASS.
The COMPASS group has finished an idea ponder on the advancements equipped for piercing the ice with a suite of sensors and sending the information it gathers back to Earth. The best choice, they contend, is an atomic controlled ‘tunnelbot’.
Nuclear Powered Tunnel ‘Bot’ to the Rescue
Atomic power packs the most power into a little space. Furthermore, it shouldn’t be incorporated with a nuclear reactor — however that was one of the idea structures. In its least complex frame, radioactive ‘blocks’ would basically transmit a heat source before a cylinder formed test which at that point slowly sinks as the ice underneath to slush.
The intensity of such atomic power modules have been plentifully shown by any semblance of Voyager 1 2, as yet sending back signs as they cross into interstellar space somewhere in the range of 40 years after they were propelled.
It’s reported that the Clipper will be prepared after dispatch in 2022. It will take six years for the test to achieve Jupiter and build up itself in a trajectory around Europa.
