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The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) was a proposed NASA spacecraft designed to explore the icy moons of Jupiter. The main target was Europa, where an ocean of liquid water may harbor alien life. Ganymede and Callisto, which are now thought to also have liquid, salty oceans beneath their icy surfaces, were also targets of interest for the probe.
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. In military applications an AUV is more often referred to as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs.
The Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL) was a proposed NASA rover that would have conducted a search for life on Mars. This proposed mission, which was not funded, would have landed a rover on Mars in 2016 and explore a site for habitat. Examples of such sites are an active or extinct hydrothermal deposit, a dry lake or a specific polar site.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), also known as uncrewed underwater vehicles and underwater drones, are submersible vehicles that can operate underwater without a human occupant. These vehicles may be divided into two categories: remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROUVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). ROUVs are remotely controlled by a human operator. AUVs are automated and operate independently of direct human input.
A cryobot or Philberth-probe is a robot that can penetrate water ice. A cryobot uses heat to melt the ice, and gravity to sink downward.
William C. "Bill" Stone is an American engineer, caver and explorer, known for exploring deep caves, sometimes with autonomous underwater vehicles. He has participated in over 40 international expeditions and is president and CEO of Stone Aerospace.
The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) is an autonomous underwater vehicle designed and built by Stone Aerospace, an aerospace engineering firm based in Austin, Texas. It was designed to autonomously explore and map underwater sinkholes in northern Mexico, as well as collect water and wall core samples. This could be achieved via an autonomous form of navigation known as A-Navigation. The DEPTHX vehicle was the first of three vehicles to be built by Stone Aerospace which were funded by NASA with the goal of developing technology that can explore the oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa to look for extraterrestrial life.
Lake Bonney is a saline lake with permanent ice cover at the western end of Taylor Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, Antarctica.
Explorer autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a Chinese AUV developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC), first entering service in November 1994. It should not be confused with another two Anglo-American AUVs that share the same name: the American Autonomous Benthic Explorer AUV (ABE) built by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the British Columbia-based International Submarine Engineering built Canadian Explorer AUV, which is based on its earlier ARCS AUV. Many Chinese AUVs later developed, such as Wukong, WZODA, CR series, Exploration series, Micro Dragon series, Sea Whale series, Submerged Dragon series AUVs, are all based on experienced gained from Explorer AUV.
The Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), also known as Mars 2018 mission, was a NASA concept for a Mars rover mission, proposed to be launched in 2018 together with the European ExoMars rover. The MAX-C rover concept was cancelled in April 2011 due to budget cuts.
Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) was a program established by NASA to sponsor research projects that advance the technology and techniques used in planetary exploration. The objective was to enable the study of astrobiology and to aid the planning of extraterrestrial exploration missions while prioritizing science, technology, and field campaigns.
Stone Aerospace is an aerospace engineering firm founded by engineer and explorer Bill Stone, located in Del Valle, a suburb of Austin, Texas.
IceMole is an autonomous ice research probe, incorporating a new type of ice-melting tip for the exploration of polar regions, glaciers, ice sheets, and extraterrestrial regions, developed by a team from the FH Aachen, a Fachhochschule in Aachen, Germany. The advantage over previous probes is that the IceMole can change its direction and can be recovered after being used. A driving ice screw allows the probe to drill through soil layers and other contaminations in the ice.
Europa Clipper is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars on March 1, 2025, and Earth on December 3, 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030. The spacecraft will then perform a series of flybys of Europa while in orbit around Jupiter.
The Europa Lander is an astrobiology mission concept by NASA to send a lander to Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. If funded and developed as a large strategic science mission, it would be launched in 2027 to complement the studies by the Europa Clipper orbiter mission and perform analyses on site.
The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is a NASA program to explore ocean worlds in the outer Solar System that could possess subsurface oceans to assess their habitability and to seek biosignatures of simple extraterrestrial life.
Margarita Marinova is a Bulgarian aeronautical engineer. She is the Senior Mars and Vehicle Systems Development Engineer at SpaceX.
SPINDLE is a 2-stage autonomous vehicle system consisting of a robotic ice-penetrating carrier vehicle (cryobot) and an autonomous submersible HAUV . The cryobot is designed to descend through an ice body into a sub-surface ocean and deploy the HAUV submersible to conduct long range reconnaissance, life search, and sample collection. The HAUV submersible will return to, and auto-dock with, the cryobot at the conclusion of the mission for subsequent data uplink and sample return to the surface.
BRUIE is an autonomous underwater vehicle prototype by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The prototype began underwater testing in 2012 and it is meant to eventually explore the interior of water worlds in the Solar System, such as Europa or Enceladus.
Catherine Walker is an American Earth and planetary scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she is on the scientific staff in the Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering. Her research spans fracture mechanics and dynamics in ice, cryosphere change, physical oceanography, and geomorphology on Earth and other planets and moons using a variety of methodologies including remote sensing.
References
- 1 2 Probing Antarctica’s Lake Bonney. Space.com. Henry Bortman. 21 May 2009.
- ↑ Visionary Counting on Unmanned Vehicles Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Unmanned Systems Magazine. Richard Tuttle. Nov/Dec 2007. Retrieved from stoneaerospace.com on 12 April 2012.
- ↑ ENDURANCE: Antarctica 2009 Mission Begins Archived 14 September 2012 at archive.today . Stone Aerospace. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- ↑ Bortman, Henry (8 April 2010). "Exploring Beneath Antarctic Ice". Astrobiology Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010.
- ↑ David, Leonard (7 February 2006). "Europa Mission: Lost in NASA Budget". Space.com.
- ↑ Friedman, Louis (14 December 2005). "Projects: Europa Mission Campaign; Campaign Update: 2007 Budget Proposal". The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
