Her name is Valkyrie ( Very deep Autonomous Laser-powered Kilowatt-class Yo-yoing Robotic Ice Explorer ). It is a cryobot (robot designed to operate on glacial ice) devised by NASA to tunnel through the ice sheets to penetrate the subterranean seas that are more difficult to access. The cryobot is already in the testing phase on Alaska’s Matanuska Glacier . If the project is successful, it will be the first step in sending you exploring the underground oceans of icy moons like Europa (of Jupiter) or even outside our solar system – someday.
This search is not going to be easy. According to scientist Louise Prockter from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, any cryobot sent to this area will have to go through between 20 and 30 kilometers of ice to be able to make this tunnel and withstand the significant pressures that it will find below. of ice.
But not all scientists think that this task is so unworkable. Valkyrie uses laser technology and fiber optics to melt ice and forge its way through thick layers of glacial ice. The ice melts in front of him, allowing communication and energy flow to be constantly maintained. In 2014, this cryobot managed to descend 31 meters deep into the Matanuska glacier, “but this is definitely not the limit of its possibilities,” says Bill Stone, involved in the Valkyrie project.
The first prototypes of this tunnel boring robot were quite slow and not very productive. According to experts, the problem is in the budget that requires a device of these characteristics. Valkyrie has managed to drill up to 31 meters with a laser power of just 5 kilowatts, but the power required for the Europa moon would be between 250 kW and one megawatt , Stone estimates.
NASA’s goal is to launch this robot in 2022 on the mission that would search for life on this moon of Jupiter, thus offering us the answer to that great question that we have been asking for so long. Is there life out there?
