A cryobot or Philberth-probe is a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

that can penetrate

water ice Water ice could refer to: *Ice formed by water (as opposed to other substances) *The alternate term for various similar frozen fruit-flavoured desserts: **Italian ice primarily in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley **Sorbet Sorbet (), also c ...

. 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 polar ice sheets down to by melting. If built, it would likely measure temperature, stress, ice movement, and seismic, acoustic and dielectric properties. Such concept could also be used for other investigations with remote instrumentation. The general concept uses a hot point for melt penetration, instrumentation for control and measurement functions, supply conductor coils to link the probe with the surface for transmission of power and measurement signals.

History

The cryobot was invented by German physicist Karl Philberth, who first demonstrated it in the 1960s as part of the International Glaciological Greenland Expedition (EGIG), achieving drilling depths in excess of . In 1973 British scientists in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

performed airborne ice-penetrating

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

survey and detected a possible lake. In 1991, the European remote sensing satellite

ERS-1 European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS) was the European Space Agency's first Earth-observing satellite programme using a polar orbit. It consisted of 2 satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2. ERS-1 ERS-1 launched 17 July 1991 from Guiana Space Centre ...

confirmed the 1973 discovery of a large lake below four kilometers of ice, now named

Lake Vostok Lake Vostok (russian: озеро Восток, ''ozero Vostok'') is the largest of Antarctica's almost 400 known subglacial lakes. Lake Vostok is located at the southern Pole of Cold, beneath Russia's Vostok Station under the surface of the cent ...

. The lake, which is the fifth largest freshwater lake in the world, is thought to be uncontaminated. In 2002 NASA was planning to use a cryobot to explore the lake, but the project did not happen. In 2011, NASA awarded Stone Aerospace $4 million to fund the Phase 2 of project VALKYRIE (Very-Deep Autonomous Laser-Powered Kilowatt-Class Yo-Yoing Robotic Ice Explorer). This project aims to create an autonomous cryobot capable of melting through vast amounts of ice. The probe's power source differs from many other designs in that it does not rely on nuclear power to generate heat, but rather the power of a high energy laser fed to it through a fiber optic cable. This is beneficial because nuclear probes are not allowed for testing in Antarctica as a result of the Antarctic Treaty. Phase 2 of project VALKYRIE consisted of testing a scaled-down version of the cryobot in Matanuska Glacier, Alaska in 2015. Following the success of these missions, Phase 3 of the project is then used a full-scale version of the cryobot to melt its way to a subglacial lake, collect samples, and then resurface. It featured a radar on the probe, integrated to an intelligent algorithm for autonomous scientific sampling and navigation. The test was performed in 2017 on a probe called "Archimedes". Stone Aerospace integrated their ARTEMIS submersible with the VALKYRIE laser technology to develop a sophisticated cryobot called

SPINDLE Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

(Sub-glacial Polar Ice Navigation, Descent, and Lake Exploration). This third phase of the project would be viewed as a precursor to possible future missions to the icy moons of

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 ...

, a moon of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, and

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 ...

, a moon of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, to explore the liquid water oceans thought to be present below their ice, and assess their potential habitability.

References

{{reflist German inventions

Features and technology

History

See also

References