NASA plans to build a snake-like robot to slither through a Saturn moon looking for life

Exists life beyond Earth? It’s possible that a brand-new snake-like robot will find out.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) for a space mission to Enceladus, one of Saturn’s 83 moons with the whitest and most reflective surface in the solar system. It’s accepted that there is a fluid sea under the ice, inciting further examination concerning whether life exists inside it.

As indicated by the Stream Impetus Lab, EELS is a “snake-like, self-propelled robot” made of sections with “first-of-a-sort pivoting drive units” that permit it to grasp surfaces and move submerged. The robot snake should be able to enter the ocean below by squeezing its way through the surface vents on Enceladus.

To ensure that it is ready for the job, the roughly 16-foot, 220-pound robot is undergoing extensive testing in a variety of settings. Technology that enables EELS to send operators real-time video and capture the world in 3D will be included in the “head” of the snake. In the meantime, its body will be able to carry and launch a science payload that could enable researchers to measure temperature, electrical conductivity, and pressure in the subsurface.

The previous fall, it went through testing at the Athabasca Icy mass in Canada’s Jasper Public Park.

Although a launch date for EELS has not yet been specified, researchers anticipate completing the concept by fall 2024.

Last year, EELS Deputy Project Manager Rachel Etheredge stated, “We are early in the project, but it is achievable in our lifetime.” We are motivated by our shared enthusiasm for this idea and the potential science we could gather with EELS. It is an ambitious collaboration.”

When it’s all set, it would require around 12 years for a rocket to convey EELS to the Saturn moon, yet specialists trust that it would require just days for the robot snake to arrive at the sea once it tracks down its direction into a vent in the frosty covering.

“The EELS system is a mobile instrument platform conceived to explore internal terrain structures, assess habitability and ultimately search for evidence of life,” NASA says of its development. “It is designed to be adaptable to traverse ocean-world-inspired terrain, fluidized media, enclosed labyrinthian environments and liquids.”

What’s more, assuming all works out in a good way, the robot snake could take sea world investigation to a higher level, NASA says, permitting “deeper exploration into areas that were once unattainable.”