DEPTHX is set to explore a sinkhole in Mexico and serves as a prototype for a Europa mission probe.
DEPTHX is a 4 degree-of-freedom autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed to serve as an experimental platform for testing science autonomy and 3D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) for the NASA Europa lander third stage “hydrobot”.
DEPTHX is an extraordinarily capable vehicle. It will maneuver, hover, and wall-track in full 3D. It contains redundant (survivable) thruster systems (4 horizontal, 2 vertical), dual power supplies, a sophisticated onboard navigation system, environmental sensing suite, and a 56 point 4-Pi steradian real-time mapping and obstacle avoidance system. It can be run on the surface using wireless WiFi. It can spool a thin single-mode optical fiber for either data uplink or tele-op control. And, most importantly, it can be programmed to autonomously (no tether) build and follow 3D maps, to explore and map unknown territory, and return home using it’s own maps, without any GPS aiding.
W00t! I’m glad NASA hasn’t given up on the idea of a Europa probe!
N9IWP
June 4, 2007, 4:13pm
2
All these worlds are yours except Europa – attempt no landing there…
thanks for the link
Brian
Sweet! I live for solar system porn! Not to mention the prospect of finding some nifty microbe living under the frozen surface
I’m sure it only seems hard to a layman like me, but plotting a course to one of Jupiter’s moons must be an incredibly tough gravitational problem.
I once put Jupiter up for sale on eBay. Included all satelites except Europa. (“Attempt no landing there” - you know the drill)
Lasted about two days before it was removed. That was somewhere back around 1999 or 2000.
