Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS)

Abstract

Cassini confirmed Enceladus’s habitability for life as we know it. Enceladus plumes provide a unique pathway to sample from and potentially travel to an alien ocean. Enceladus offers many mobility challenges. At 1/87th Earth gravity the unconsolidated plume ejecta likely fluidizes when disturbed. This creates a buoyancy and swimming problem. Sintering of the ice grains challenges this and must be accounted for. The various models of how the plumes are driven provide a wide range of environments that may need to be traversed. Finally, fluid mobility is necessary. The exobiology extant life surveyor (EELS) architecture is developed to address this. It is composed of serially-replicated segments with encapsulated locomotion and bending. The concept uses a screw propulsion configuration that acts as tracks, gripping mechanisms, and propelling units especially under water. The resulting design is an adaptable solution to ocean world inspired terrains, fluidized granular media, enclosed labyrinthian environments, and liquids. This paper will cover an adaptable mobility system concept, current development, modeling, and experimental testing.