Inchworming Probe for Planetary Exploration

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."

Comments

All About the Money

[Erasei]

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.

mmm hot bit?

[ash2]

This sort of technology could be used to take 'pure' samples of things like the ice caps to check for life buried deep below.

As in the past the deep ice cores were contaminated with lubricant which lead to several fake ET lifeforms.

More info

[elfkicker]

More info from the company's website here. Includes images and related projects.

unmanned drilling won't be easy

[Villain]

This article at spacedaily.com discusses options for cost effective remote unmanned drilling.

Re:Could be useful here

[elfkicker]

As long as it doesn't dig right through them. That seems reasonable. Of course, I'm just talking shit.

I had a pretty silly thought since some folks were using cell phones, couldn't they triangulate ACKs from digital phones by sending them messages are calls or whatever and find the concentrations of where people are? You could also call some numbers and get the ringing for a audible cue when the diggers are close.

Don't know if actually possible, but it's worth a thought.

Re:Could be useful here

[ergo98]

For sure they should be able to. In fact there was a lot of moaning and bitching that the wireless providers hadn't yet implemented their system triangulation yet (of course the government is largely pushing for it for anti-crime reasons, but they pretend it's for 911), though of course that's absurd as a) GPS portions obviously would not work under the rubble. GPS barely works under heavy tree coverage. In fact I'm curious how GPS could play a part for that. b) If triangulation can be done at the cell phone towers then it can therefore be done onsite.

It is amazing how incredibly important cell phones (and the much more expensive plane phone versions) have been during this whole event. They were a crucial pipeline of information, and in the events over Pennsylvania they are how the victims learned that the terrorist had already plowed one or both planes into the WTC.

Various objections

[Alien54]

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.

- - -
Radio Free Nation
an alternate news site using Slash Code
"If You have a Story, We have a Soap Box"
- - -