NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). NASA Designed by A Robot special with Snake shape to Adapting to complex terrain For the purpose of exploration Enceladusone of Saturn’s moonsand check if it exists extraterrestrial life.
The ringed planet has at least 83 satellites Enceladus Is it sixth largests. To learn more about it, NASA designed the system External Life Surveyor in Exogenous Biology (EELS)whose self-propelled device resembles the body of a snake, so it has the ability to glide over rough terrain thanks to the caster wheels.
Enceladus has The liquid ocean beneath its icy crust. The holes that appear on its surface are direct channels to underground water. The space agency’s idea is to use EELS to reach the ocean through these channels.
How does NASA’s snake robot work?
The EELS is a mobile instrument platform, meaning it is designed with multiple symmetric segmented and rotary propulsion units – the first of its kind. they act like cluesAnd gripping mechanisms a Underwater propeller unitsdepending on your environment.
The architecture of these parts is designed to communicate with each other and allow the robot to enter through one of the openings on the surface, crawl to its origin in the ocean below the planetary crust, and then swim through the water.
The robot can explore interior terrain structures, assess habitability, and eventually look for evidence of life. It is designed to be adaptable to transit Terrain inspired by the ocean worldAnd fluidized mediaAnd Closed and fluid maze environments.
Other exploration opportunities open up on Earth
But in addition to Saturn’s moon, NASA’s snake robot is being offered as a possibility to reach other polar caps on Mars and Places From the planet that has been so far Elusive one of hard access.
At the moment, the EELS model It will be tested at the Pasadena Ice Rink, United State. But the research team for this system is also working with other scientists to define it High priority field investigations And a high impact one in which a new robot could be of great use.
Thus, EELS can collaborate to explore downward cracks in Earth’s ice sheets and even swim in depths of the ocean world which were not known until now.