New changes to the Europa Clipper Mission

NASA designed a robotic probe to face temperatures of -2º, without access to solar energy and guided only by autonomous intelligence and the objective is to find signs of life in another world, more precisely in Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, but the fate of the robot could have changed after years of development, extreme tests and cutting-edge engineering, the lander that was supposed to descend on Europa could now be redirected towards Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn that also possibly houses underground oceans.

The robot was designed by NASA's JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory to withstand one of the most hostile environments in the solar system. Equipped with articulated legs, it is capable of landing safely on irregular icy terrain in addition to operating completely autonomously. Among its main instruments is an advanced under-ice drilling tool capable of collecting samples up to 20 cm below the frozen surface.

The system also has stereoscopic cameras with self-illumination, intelligent sensors to avoid damage during excavation and an AI brain that makes decisions on its own, all of this with limited energy directly from the battery. The robot was tested on a glacier in Alaska where it went through landing simulations and navigation in environments similar to the surface of Europa. surface, in addition communication with the earth would be extremely limited and the robot would depend solely on batteries, since sunlight barely reaches that distant region of the solar system.

Every 85 hours less than half of that time would be available for transmissions, it was a huge challenge and NASA had to reevaluate, the good news is that Enceladus one of Saturn's moons must also have an underground ocean and most importantly it has much more favorable conditions, the radiation around it is significantly lower and the heat is known for its plumes of water vapor that emerge from the subsurface that are believed to be rich in organic molecules.

This makes it possible to detect biosignatures on the surface, something that would not be viable in europe. With this, the robot originally planned for europe can be adapted for a future mission to enceladus, taking advantage of the entire structure already developed, including under-ice and autonomous software. The great hope of these missions is to explore environments that, even being far from the sun, offer internal heat, liquid water, and the ingredients necessary for life,

If any place outside Earth has the possibility of hosting living organisms, those icy moons are the most promising candidates. Enceladus is now the new focus of this race and this robot may be the first explorer to land there and search for life directly on the ground.

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