A submersible name BRUIE, that drives upside-down under sea ice, may one day explore the extraterrestrial sea on Europa or Enceladus for signs of life.
USA’s NASA is gearing up to test a robot underneath Antarctica’s sea ice, with hopes of eventually sending a similar machine to search for aliens in the subsurface oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
According to Vice News, the two-wheeled robot, which is called the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration (BRUIE), uses buoyancy to anchor itself upside-down on the bottom edge of the ice.
It would be an immense challenge to land on Europa because Jupiter emits damaging radiation that is expected to scramble spacecraft electronics
The robot has already in the phase of testing, but in the coming weeks, NASA will team up with the Australian Antarctic Program to drive BRUIE under the sea ice near Casey Station.
It was reported that it will trial the endurance of the rover, particularly how long the batteries can last in extreme field conditions and how it handles a variety of terrain.
