This article was taken from the May 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Stone Aerospace's autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have explored the frontiers of Earth's deep-sea worlds. In 2007, the Texas-based company's DepthX craft explored the Zacatón hydrothermal spring complex in northern Mexico. The following year, DepthX's smaller variant, the Endurance, travelled beneath Antarctica's ice sheets. Its next stop: Europa.
Stone Aerospace is working with Nasa to send an AUV to explore the Jupiter moon's frozen seas within the next 20 years. Europa is thought to host vast saltwater oceans beneath its surface -- a likely candidate for microbial life.
How it works: Endurance operates autonomously and maps its own surroundings. Its 96 sensors examine rock and water before collecting samples for on-board processing.
Here's how its mission will go down...
1. Six thrusters
Four horizontal and two vertical thrusters enable movement in every direction. Only half are needed -- the extras are built-in redundancy. Combined, they create 1,400N of thrust.
2. Primary computers
Endurance has 45 computer processors for navigation and data-gathering. Video and still images are also processed on-board to identify signs of potential life forms for sampling.
3. Sonar sensors
Two racks of 56 sonar sensors can find objects up to 300 metres away. Called simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM), this helps to build a topographical map.
4. Satellite connectivity
After gathering samples on Europa, the submersible will return to the ocean's surface to transmit data back to Earth, relaying the transmission via an orbiting satellite.
5. Sonde package
This package of instruments can be lowered from the craft, attached by an ethernet and power cable. Descending 100 metres, it can sample water chemistry and record images.
6. Buoyancy engines
Variable buoyancy engines (VBEs) hold the craft in position within a 5cm horizontal and 1cm vertical margin by gauging water pressure, temperature and salinity.
Click the gallery to see Endurance in its underwater habitat.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
