NASA’s swimming robots to search for alien life on other planets

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA is working on an intriguing concept that would allow potential planetary missions to pursue interesting clues in subsurface oceans.

A swarm of tiny robots the size of cellphones could navigate the water beneath Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s moon Enceladus’ icy shell.

The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts programme recently awarded $600,000 in Phase II funding to the Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (SWIM) concept.

SWIM envisions wedge-shaped robots that are approximately 5 inches (12 centimetres) long and 3 to 5 cubic inches (60 to 75 cubic centimetres) in volume.

Four dozen of them could fit in a 4-inch (10-centimeter) section of a cryobot.

Cryobots would be linked to a surface-based lander by a communications tether, which would serve as the point of contact with mission controllers on Earth.

The Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2024, will begin collecting detailed science during multiple flybys with a large suite of instruments.

Each robot would have its own propulsion system, onboard computer, and ultrasound communications system, as well as simple temperature, salinity, acidity, and pressure sensors.