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Inchworming Probe for Planetary Exploration

Posted by michael on from the worms-drill-in-the-worms-drill-out dept.

An anonymous reader writes: "Honeybee Robotics, a firm in New York's Little Italy, has designed a probe that can inchworm deep into the Martian crust or Europan ice shell without a cable to the surface for power or data. Totally autonomous. It's based on a system the company designed to weld steampipes below Manhattan. It's also just really cool."

2 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. All About the Money by Erasei · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think we will see many such missions (if any) until there is corporate money to be made. If there was some mineral or something of great value that can't be had on earth, then I think you would see space exploration really take off. Until then, it's just going to be done as NASA (and few select others) get the money to do research. If the corporate world would get behind something like this, then we really +would+ see cool things start to happen.

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  2. Various objections by Alien54 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I recall various comments where people object to probes visiting any planet where there may be any possible form of life, on the basis that we may cause contamination.

    This I consider this to be rather foolhardy, to throw away the chance for access to another world because we are afraid that we might do something.

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