• Download the Constitution of Pakistan
  • Advertise
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
  • Login
NEWSLETTER
ECONOMY
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Life & Style
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology
No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Life & Style
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology
No Result
View All Result
ECONOMY
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology

NASA Engineers Plan to Send Robot Snake to Explore Icy Moon Enceladus of Saturn

by News Publishing
May 13, 2023
in Technology
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
NASA Engineers Plan to Send Robot Snake to Explore Icy Moon Enceladus of Saturn
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterLinkedinWhatsapp

A robot created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory may be able to slide inside cracks on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. The robot has a flexible body that allows it to adapt to the environment it encounters, unlike the rovers that have been launched to the moon and Mars, which have metallic wheels. A four-meter-long mechanical snake made by NASA called the EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) project contains ten similar segments and ten spinning screws that grab the ground, propel it forward, and self-screw through the ice.

(JPL-Caltech/NASA)

Abandoning Wheels for Snakes

Wheels have restrictions, even if they can travel through sand and dunes. For instance, if a hill is too steep, the wheels can swerve and the car might topple. Because it’s simple to become stranded in snow and ice, the Mars rover’s operators likewise avoided it. In order to overcome these limits, the EELS project mimics snakes, which are skilled at navigating across challenging terrain. It can move from side to side and even lift its head like a snake because to the joints between its segments.

Testing the Robot

In 2019, NASA engineers started constructing the first EELS prototype. A ski resort’s snow, an ice rink, and even a hole in British Columbia’s Athabasca Glacier have all been used for testing the robot. Its sensor head was dropped into the hole to map the area using lidar and stereo cameras.

 (JPL-Caltech/NASA)

Potential Target: Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

Enceladus, a moon of Saturn with geysers erupting water from breaches near its south pole, is an ice world with slithery snakes as good candidates for exploration. The surface of Enceladus resembles walking through a glacier on Earth because it has deep craters that could easily swallow a wheeled vehicle. EELS can adapt to challenging terrain thanks to its flexibility, skin-like force-sensing actuators, and self-navigation features.

 (JPL-Caltech/NASA)

Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, or EELS, is a NASA project that consists of a four-meter-long mechanical snake with 10 identical segments, each enclosed in a shell that resembles a helical screw. The rotating screws will be able to self-screw through ice, grab the ground, and advance it. Although its sensor head really incorporates cameras and object-detecting lidar, it can slither from side to side and even lift its head like a snake sniffing the air thanks to the joints between its parts.

The first EELS prototype was constructed by engineers in 2019, and they have plenty of time to refine their robot. Even the conceptual plan for NASA’s future exploration of Enceladus does not see a mission departing before 2038.

Heading to Enceladus

NASA’s future exploration of Enceladus is only at the concept stage, and even that plan doesn’t imagine a mission leaving before 2038. But when it does, the snake robot will carry an array of sensors to examine the chemistry of the ice and possibly search for any signs of life.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus dramatically sprays plumes of water from its underground ocean into space, as seen in this image captured by the Cassini Orbiter at the moon’s south pole. (NASA/JPL)

With its skin-like force-sensing actuators and elasticity, they anticipate that it will be better able to adapt to challenging terrain.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus, an ice world with geysers pouring water out of fractures near its south pole, suggests a subsurface ocean and could be a habitat for extraterrestrial life, is a top target for EELS.

Nature-Inspired Robotics

The snake robot will be able to navigate totally on its own because Enceladus is almost a billion and a half kilometers from Earth and a radio signal must travel there for more than an hour. That includes climbing out of a hole or crack if it falls into one.

Scurrying centipedes were the inspiration for this many-legged robot that can traverse difficult landscapes. (Georgia Tech)
Georgia Tech

It will be equipped with a variety of yet-to-be-chosen sensors that will probably analyze the chemistry of the ice and perhaps search for any evidence of life.

Nature provides many other ways to allow animals mobility in a range of places where wheels cannot travel, despite the fact that humans invented the wheel.

Another Georgia Tech team is using centipedes as inspiration to build multi-legged robots that can climb across uneven ground. Taking lessons from nature seems like a smart idea as we use our mechanical creatures to reach out to distant worlds.

Tags: Icy Moon EnceladuslatestNASANASA EngineersRobot Snakesaturn
News Publishing

News Publishing

Related Posts

Mobile imports decreased

Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Drop 16% in FY25

by Anum Arif
June 27, 2025
0

ISLAMABAD: Mobile phone imports in Pakistan fell sharply by 16.31% during the first eleven months (July–May) of the fiscal year...

What is Artificial Intelligence and How AI is Everywhere Around Us?

What is Artificial Intelligence and How AI is Everywhere Around Us?

by News Publishing
June 6, 2025
0

Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be described as one of the finest innovations of the 21st century. It has become an...

Microsoft and Elon Musk

Microsoft Hosts Elon Musk’s Grok Chatbot on Azure

by Anum Arif
May 20, 2025
0

Microsoft has officially partnered with Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, to host the controversial chatbot Grok on its Azure cloud...

Apple iphone all glass

Apple Plans Bezel-Free Glass iPhone for 2027

by Anum Arif
May 15, 2025
0

As Apple prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iPhone in 2027, the tech giant is reportedly planning a...

Agriculture sector being developed on modern lines: PM

Agriculture sector being developed on modern lines: PM

by News Publishing
May 15, 2025
0

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said agriculture sector is being developed on modern lines to achieve agricultural self-reliance. He...

iphone 18

Apple iPhone 18 Pro to Get Under-Display Face ID

by Anum Arif
May 14, 2025
0

California – 14 May 2025:Apple is reportedly preparing a major redesign for its 2026 iPhone 18 Pro lineup, with plans...

Next Post
Judiciary our only hope says EX-PM Imran Khan

Judiciary our only hope says EX-PM Imran Khan

About Us

Economy.pk is a source of economic, political, business, finance, health and sports updates.

Important Categories

  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Life & Style
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • YouTube
  • Linkedin
  • TikTok
  • WhatsApp
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

© 2024 Economy.pk - Web Development by Digital Otters

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Life & Style
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology

© 2024 Economy.pk - Web Development by Digital Otters