BRUIE (Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration) is an
autonomous underwater vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes ...
prototype by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States.
Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...
. 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
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliff ...
or
Enceladus
Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refl ...
.
Overview
On Earth, aquatic life is often found at the ice-water interface, so researchers designed the robotic rover to be buoyant and use its two wheels ( each) to roll along beneath the ice and look for life or their
biosignature
A biosignature (sometimes called chemical fossil or molecular fossil) is any substance – such as an element, isotope, or molecule – or phenomenon that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attribute ...
s.
Scientists can also learn a lot from the topography of the underside of the ice, including how the ice forms. And the ice can act as a trap for gases, either from biological or geological processes.
The first BRUIE prototype began testing in 2012 in an Arctic lake in Alaska,
and in Antarctica in 2019.
The
principal investigator
In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...
is Andy Klesh at JPL; the co-investigators are Kevin Hand, Dan Berisford, John Leichty and Josh Schoolcraft.
Astrobiologist
Kevin Hand
Kevin Hand is an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at JPL.
He is also the founder of Cosmos Education and was its president until 2007.
He was working at NASA Ames when he was inspired to form Cosmos Education in 1999 after getting a grant ...
at JPL is the lead scientist.
Description
The rover resembles a bar long, with two large studded wheels at each end.
BRUIE features cameras, lights, and eventually it will be equipped with wireless communication to remotely navigate autonomously without a tether.
It can also carry some scientific instruments, which would be incorporated later if preliminary testing goes well.
BRUIE uses
buoyancy
Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the p ...
to remain anchored against the ice and resist water currents. The sealed air-filled cylindrical body, along with closed-cell foam inside of cone-shaped wheels, provides buoyancy force to enable roving along the underside of the ice.
Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration.
Berisford, D. F.; Leichty, J. M.; Klesh, A. T.; Matthews, J. B.; Hand, K. P. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. December 2012. Bibcode: 2012AGUFM.C13E0655B In can safely power down to save battery, turning on only when it needs to take a measurement, so it could spend months observing the under-ice environment at time intervals.
Challenges
One obstacle facing aquatic vehicles like BRUIE is how to deliver it through the thick ice shell.Cryobot
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.
Features and technology
The cryobot is a surface-controlled instrumented vehicle desired to penetrate pol ...
, proposed by German engineers.[An Architecture for a Nuclear Powered Cryobot to Access the Oceans of Icy Worlds.](_blank)
Thomas Cwik, Wayne Zimmerman, and Miles Smith. Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space, American Nuclear Society Topical Meeting. Richland, WA, February 25 – February 28, 2019. Heat from nuclear power would melt the ice and the penetrator would propel itself through the hole. Once through, the attached aquatic vehicle could be deployed to explore.Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europ ...
'' orbiter will measure the ice shell thickness of Europa, which will help determine if a vehicle pair like BRUIE and Cryobot are a possible next step.
See also
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References
External links
BRUIE: Buoyant Rover for Under Ice Exploration.
Video at NASA (2016)
{{Extraterrestrial life
Proposed NASA space probes
Proposed astrobiology space missions
Europa (moon)
Robotic submarines
Planetary rovers