Cryobot: an ice penetrating robotic vehicle for Mars and Europa

Zimmerman, Wayne; Bonitz, R.G.; Feldman, Jason

doi:10.1109/aero.2001.931722

Cited by 46 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Without doubt, the most advanced melting probe design is that of the Cryobot, initiated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1998 as an in-situ exploration and sample return vehicle for a future application on Europa (Zimmerman 2001). The Cryobot is allotted with integrated radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) providing 1 kW thermal of direct melt energy.…”

Section: Past Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology

Ulamec

Biele

Funke

et al. 2006

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol

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A key aspect for understanding the biological and biochemical environment of subglacial waters, on Earth or other planets and moons in the Solar system, is the analysis of material embedded in or underneath icy layers on the surface. In particular the Antarctic lakes (most prominently Lake Vostok) but also the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa or the polar caps of Mars require such investigation. One possible technique to penetrate thick ice layers with small and reliable probes is by melting, which does not require the heavy, complex and expensive equipment of a drilling rig. While melting probes have successfully been used for terrestrial applications e.g. in Antarctic ice, their performance in vacuum is different and theory needs confirmation by tests. Thus, a vacuum chamber has been used to perform a series of melting tests in cold (liquid nitrogen cooled) water ice samples. The feasibility of the method was demonstrated and the energy demand for a space mission could be estimated. Due to the high energy demand in case of extraterrestrial application (e.g. Europa or polar caps of Mars), only heating with radioactive isotopes seems feasible for reaching greater depths. The necessary power is driven by the desired penetration velocity (approximately linearly) and the dimensions of the probe (proportional to the cross section). In comparison to traditional drilling techniques the application of a melting probe for exploration of Antarctic lakes offers the advantage that biological contamination is minimized, since the Probe can be sterilized and the melting channel freezes immediately after the probe's passage, inhibiting exchange with the surface layers and the atmosphere. In order to understand the physical and chemical nature of the ice layers, as well as for analysing the underlying water body, a melting probe needs to be equipped with a suite of scientific instruments that are capable of e.g. determining the chemical and isotopic composition of the embedded or dissolved materials.

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Section: Past Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology

Ulamec

Biele

Funke

et al. 2006

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol

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“…On the other hand, one major advantage of a molelike drilling probe is outlined, namely the possibility of penetrating through ice contaminants (dust, meteoritic debris and salts) which cannot be achieved by a pure melting process. Zimmerman et al (2001) and Cardell et al (2004) presented the development of a thermal probe called "Cryobot". The Cryobot uses hot water jets to clear the penetration path in front of the probe.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Thermal drill sampling system onboard high-velocity impactors for exploring the subsurface of Europa

Weiß

Yung

Kömle

et al. 2011

Advances in Space Research

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“…In other words, for the accuracy of the result the resolution along the melt film is more important than the resolution across the melt film. The latter is only felt by the temperature equation and not by the Reynolds equation (30), which is formulated in a depth-integrated manner. Figure 5 and 6 show the empirical convergence rates for different values of the relaxation factor σ at four different Stefan numbers.…”

Section: Convergence Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The complete quasi-steady close-contact melting process can now be determined by solving the Reynolds equation (30) for the pressure field and the energy equation (18) for the temperature field. Both are coupled by the velocity field (31) and (32), and implicitly depend on the melt film thicknessδ as well as the melting velocityW 0 .…”

Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other applications for close-contact melting are hot wire cutting manufacturing technology [18], nuclear technology [7,6], planetary protection [17] as well as robotic ice exploration technologies based on melting probes for polar research and solar system research, e.g. [16,30,5,8]. Developing a computational model for robotic ice exploration technologies based on melting probes also serves as the major motivation for our current study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Spatially varying heat flux driven close-contact melting – A Lagrangian approach

Schüller

Kowalski

2017

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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Close-contact melting refers to the process of a heat source melting its way into a phase-change material. Of special interest is the close-contact melting velocity, or more specifically the relative velocity between the heat source and the phase-change material. In this work, we present a novel numerical approach to simulate quasi-steady, heat flux driven close-contact melting. It extends existing approaches found in the literature, and, for the first time, allows to study the impact of a spatially varying heat flux distribution. We will start by deriving the governing equations in a Lagrangian reference frame fixed to the heat source. Exploiting the narrowness of the melt film enables us to reduce the momentum balance to the Reynolds equation, which is coupled to the energy balance via the velocity field. We particularize our derivation for two simple, yet technically relevant geometries, namely a 3d circular disc and a 2d planar heat source. An iterative solution procedure for the coupled system is described in detail and discussed on the basis of a convergence study. Furthermore, we present an extension to allow for rotational melting modes. Various test cases demonstrate the proficiency of our method. In particular, we will utilize the method to assess the efficiency of the close-contact melting process and to quantify the model error introduced if convective losses are neglected. Finally, we will draw conclusions and present an outlook to future work.

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Cryobot: an ice penetrating robotic vehicle for Mars and Europa

Cited by 46 publications

References 2 publications

Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology

Access to glacial and subglacial environments in the Solar System by melting probe technology

Thermal drill sampling system onboard high-velocity impactors for exploring the subsurface of Europa

Spatially varying heat flux driven close-contact melting – A Lagrangian approach

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