FUTURE TECH
EUROPA DRILL
What lies under the Jovian moon’s ice? A mission is needed to probe its secrets
© NASA/JPL-CALTECH ; Adrian Mann
I fthere’s water or some similar liquid under the surface, it’s possible that Europa could host life. It would most likely be microbial life – something that’s suited to living in cold temperatures. But we can’t know for sure without drilling. The 2013 movie Europa Report explored this possibility in detail when the crew needed to drill several kilometres into the ice. However, it would take quite a robust drill to make it that far. How best to design it?
A few years ago, representatives from New York City-based Honeybee Robotics proposed the Inchworm Deep Drilling System (IDDS), which could potentially handle the kilometres of ice between the spacecraft and the liquid below. In papers presented as part of a Lunar and Planetary Institute workshop on Europa exploration, the drill was showcased as a way to head deeper than one kilometre (0.62 miles) without the need for a tether or other securing system.