Communications of the ACM
Autonomous Robot Could Help in the Search for Signs of Life in Space
An autonomous robot developed by engineers at NASA and tested in Antarctica is destined for a trip into outer space.
Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA
An autonomous robot developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engineers could be used in the future to search for signs of life in outer space.
The Buoyant Rover for Under Ice Exploration (BRUIE) was tested in extreme temperatures at the Casey research station in Antarctica to evaluate its capabilities in outer space.
A buoyant rover with two independent wheels, BRUIE is designed to drive along the underside of ice crust and use onboard instruments to detect compounds of interest to space scientists.
The platform is being used to perform and support oceanographic research on Earth.
The University of West Australia's Dan Arthur said an "evolution of BRUIE" could be landed on Jupiter's moon Europa to search for life at some point in the future.
From University of Western Australia
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
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