NASA’s snake-like robot aims to search for life in Saturn’s moon’s icy oceans

The snake-like robot shape has been around for decades. In addition to adding variety to the world of automation, the design has several practical properties. The first is redundancy, which allows the system to remain operational even after a module is damaged. The second is a body that enables the serpentine system to navigate tight spaces.

The latter makes snake robots a compelling addition to search and rescue teams, as the system can squeeze in humans where other robots can’t. Other applications include plumbing and even medical, with scaled-down versions able to move around pipes and human organs respectively. NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) has never shied away from future robotic applications and has been exploring how to use powerful shapes to detect alien life.

Image Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech

As is often the case with stories like this, we’re still in the early stages. Tests are currently underway on terrestrial landscapes designed to simulate what such a system might encounter once freed from the rough confines of this pale blue marble. That means a lot of ice, because NASA researchers are planning to send it to Saturn’s small, cold moon Enceladus.

Cassini’s 21st century flyby revealed a water-rich environment, making the ice-covered moon a potential candidate for life in the solar system. The ultimate plan is to use the snake-like robot, the Extraterrestrial Existing Life Surveyor (EELS), to explore the ocean beneath the moon’s crust and ultimately answer one of the universe’s big, open questions.

“It is designed to adapt to the ocean world’s topography, fluidized media, enclosed maze environments, and liquids,” the team behind the study wrote in an article published this month in Science Robotics. “Enceladus was a major driver in the design of the EELS hardware and software architecture and its mobility and autonomy capabilities. We have been developing and testing its architecture using glaciers as a simulated ice environment on Earth as a stepping stone to Enceladus.”

Image Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech

For the project, JPL partnered with Arizona State University; the University of California, San Diego; and Carnegie Mellon University, which has a long history of designing snakelike robots. In fact, HEBI Robotics, a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University, designed the modules used in earlier versions of the system.

“On Enceladus, EELS could slide down narrow geysers on the surface and swim across the vast global ocean, estimated to be as deep as six miles in the Antarctic,” noted Carnegie Mellon University. “EELS is equipped with risk-aware planning, situational awareness , motor planning and proprioceptive control, allowing it to move autonomously, away from Earth and human control.”

According to NASA, the system weighs 100,000 grams and is 4.4 meters long.