The next steps towards realizing planetary ocean access in the coming two decades

Abstract:

With the growing understanding that worlds bearing global subsurface oceans are common in the outer solar system, an era of Ocean Worlds exploration is beginning in earnest. These bodies are potentially comprised of the most likely known habitable environments in the Solar System beyond Earth, and are key targets in the search for past and extant life. However, the exploration of habitable icy and ocean environments is challenged by the reality that planetary oceans are isolated from direct observation and in situ exploration by ~5 to >100 km thick icy shells. As recognized by the NASA Astrobiology Program’s Network for Ocean Worlds (NOW) and by the Outer Planets Assessment Group’s (OPAG) Subsurface Needs for Ocean Worlds (SNOW) working group, cryobots capable of penetrating these icy formations are maturing towards potential implementation in the coming two decades. However, a half-century of intermittent investment in cryobot systems has resulted in fragmented technologies that lack the maturity required for integration into a full flight system. This presentation outlines a three-year program of analytical and numerical modeling development, laboratory and testbed analyses, and analogue field deployments to achieve a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 cryobot flight architecture ready for deployment in the 2030s. The technology is driven by requirements to access the ocean of Europa or Enceladus, penetrating up to 40 km of ice in 3-5 years. This program focuses on four major areas: thermal and power systems, communications architecture, a mobility toolkit, and system-level Earth analogue field campaigns. Requirements for each of these areas are science-driven via traceable payload, operational, and environmental constraints. The success of such a program will rely on sustained partnerships between the planetary exploration communities and the Department of Energy, domestic and international partnerships in planetary science and technology development, and domestic and international collaborations in polar exploration and field studies. This proposed program was developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, within the Probe Using Radioisotopes for Icy Moons Exploration (PRIME) technology concept development.