Subglacial Ocean Probe Exploration, Access, and Research (SPEAR)

With the onset of increased space exploration, the icy moons of Europa and Enceladus are seen as the most promising places to find extraterrestrial life. A cryobot is being developed to penetrate the icy crust of Europa to gain access of the subsurface ocean below. To garner support and prove the feasibility of such a mission, a terrestrial cryobot will be developed as an analog of the cryobot that will be used on an eventual icy moon exploration mission. The initial research has been focused on the subsystems that dominate the allowable parameters of the project: the tether bay, tether and front-end heating element. Numerical analysis with computer-aided design was used to model the size and architecture of these subsystems. Optimization and controlled analysis were performed to increase the efficiency of the heating system. It has been determined that the terrestrial tether bay will have a cylindrical geometry, the tether will be solely used for power functionality, and the front-end heating element will be comprised of cartridge heaters. It was concluded from this study that it is feasible for a self-sustained terrestrial cryobot to be developed with an internal tether delivery system.