Alberta glacier used as NASA coaching floor for robotic snake that may discover outer house

A snake-like robotic spent just a few weeks in Jasper National Park this fall as its NASA handlers skilled it for an future mission into outer house.

The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, also referred to as EELS, is a venture developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It spent just a few weeks being examined at Athabasca Glacier, one of many largest toes of the huge Columbia Icefield in Alberta. 

As its title conveys (exobiology means life exterior of Earth; extant means nonetheless in existence), the robotic will at some point slither via different planets because it searches for proof of life.

“Yes, it’s a large robotic snake,” mentioned Morgan Cable, the science lead of JPL’s EELS robotics venture. “In this case it isn’t simply an acronym, however a backronym.” That’s when a descriptive phrase is made to adapt to a reputation as an acronym. 

Robot snakes in house? But first, NASA is testing them on an Alberta glacier

Featured VideoNASA’s Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, EELS for brief, is a futuristic-looking, modular ‘snake’, designed to discover deep house. But earlier than the machine is deployed to one in all Saturn’s moons, the science crew behind it wanted to try it out someplace slightly nearer to home: the Athabasca glacier in Jasper National Park. Science lead Morgan Cable with NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory joined Radio Active to inform host Jessica Ng all about it.

EELS is modular, with cylindrical sections which have their very own rotating “screw-like” rings, mentioned Cable. 

The crew can manipulate the rings to vary how EELS strikes — for instance, utilizing them to grip on ice or mimic the pure motion of actual snakes. The robotic’s actions embody simple slithering, a screw-like movement and a sideways gait.

These completely different strikes imply that EELS can push up towards partitions, navigating via difficult and hard-to-fit-into channels like ones on the Athabasca Glacier.

“It was actually thrilling,” mentioned Cable.”We’re discovering that life could also be within the hard-to-reach locations, in cracks or crevices, perhaps down in caves. Places the place conventional Rovers cannot go.”

This is the second time EELS has been dropped at the Athabasca Glacier. The glacier’s pure cracks, crevasses and moulins — massive, vertical well-like shafts — have been used to check the robotic’s motion capabilities.

As the most-visited glacier in North America, the Athabasca can be eminently accessible, permitting for straightforward transport of heavy and sometimes difficult items of the robotic and prototypes to the sphere website. 

Over its three weeks in Jasper National Park this fall, the NASA crew examined the robotic’s horizontal and vertical mobility, and the devices used to map and sense minerals in these deeper areas.

Word of the NASA mission shortly unfold via city.

“Everyone was simply so enthusiastic,” Cable mentioned. “It was so neat to see that the work that we do is greater than only one establishment, one nation. Everyone is worked up about this exploration.”

There are not any set plans for EELS proper now however NASA is making ready the expertise so it is prepared when the fitting alternative arises. At the highest of the listing is exploring one of many moons of Saturn.

“This one moon of Saturn, Enceladus, is what we name an ocean world,” Cable mentioned.

The floor of the planet is a liquid water ocean, underneath a shell of ice. It’s much like Jupiter’s moon Europa or the moon Triton, round Neptune.

But Enceladus has 4 large cracks in its South pole which can be successfully leaking.

“It’s mainly the universe’s method of claiming ‘Hey NASA, you wish to discover out if there’s any life on this ocean? Swing on by! Free pattern!'” mentioned Cable.

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More than only a hope, Enceladus’ measurements have been used to design the scale and form of EELS segments in order that the robotic might access the ocean with out the necessity for digging or drilling.

“It’s enjoyable to have the ability to ship robotic explorers first to increase our senses out to locations that individuals have not gone but,” mentioned Cable.

But given the prospect, she’d fortunately go for a dip in Enceladus herself.

“Ultimately I feel it is an unimaginable a part of the human expertise to go to those locations ourselves, to expertise them ourselves and to be taught issues that may influence humanity from now till until the far future.”