NASA Pulls the Plug on Europa Lander, but Scientists Propose a Plan B

NASA engineers have spent the last decade developing a robust and partially autonomous designed to explore Europa, one of the most intriguing moons in Jupiter. The space agency had cold feet on the project, but the engineers are now targeting a new destination for the probe: Enladus.

Europa has long been a main target in the search for extraterrestrial biology because scientists suspect that he houses a Underground ocean Under his icy crust, potentially teeming with microbial life. But the robot – filled with radiation shielding, advanced software and ice dismissal appendages – will not go anywhere early.

In a recent article in Scientific roboticsThe engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA described the design and tests of what was formerly Europe Lands Prototype, a four -legged robotic explorer built to survive the brutal surface conditions of the Jovian moon. The robot was designed to walk – rather than rolling – analyze the terrain, collect samples and pierce in the ice crust of Europa – all with a minimum of the earth guidance, due to the major communication lag between our planet and the moon at 568 million miles (914 million kilometers).

Designed to operate autonomously for hours at a time, the bot came equipped with stereoscopic cameras, a robotic arm, LED lights and a suite of specialized materials difficult enough to support rigorous radiation and frightening cold. The temperatures on the moon range from around -210 degrees Fahrenheit (-134 degrees Celsius) to its equator as low as -370 degrees F (-223 degrees c) to its poles.

After years of development, including tests in JPL laboratories, advanced simulations and a final trial on the field on frozen field in Alaska – the Europa landing has successfully tested. He was ready to face the icy border of the solar system. But the space agency has now disconnected the mission.

According to the team, the challenges to go to Europa – its exposure to radiation, a huge distance and short observation windows – were too intimidating for the high -ups of NASA. And it is before taking into consideration the devastating budget cuts Planned by the Trump administration, which would see the agency funding from $ 7.3 billion to $ 3.9 billion. The landing, once the centerpiece of a daring initiative of Astrobiology, is now essentially in a ball of work.

But the engineers do not give up. They make lobbying so that the robot gets a second blow – on Encelade, the moon covered with Saturn ice, which also has an underground ocean And proved more favorable to robotic exploration. Enladus is still freezing, but has lower radiation and windows better access than Europa.

It remains to be seen if the icy walker obtains a new lease on his semi-autonomous life. But the robot was built for a moon moon – although relatively rigid and clilanque – and it deserves its moment.