NASA's Serpentine Robot Snake to Explore Icy Alien Worlds
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed an autonomous rover called Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) that can "slither" across sand, snow, and ice using articulated segments outfitted with corkscrews. EELS can navigate different terrains and is equipped with 48 actuators to help it get into various configurations for navigation. It can map its environment in 3D using a pair of stereo cameras and lidar and choose the safest path forward. EELS has been tested underground and will visit the Athabasca Glacier in the Canadian Rockies for more subsurface mobility trials. It could be used to explore glaciers on Earth, lava tubes on the Moon, or even the oceans and icy surface of Saturn's moon, Enceladus.