A bizarre serpentine robot has just been born on the “Mars Yard” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), preparing for a mission to hunt for extraterrestrial life on icy moons.
In a recently released clip by NASA, a giant robotic snake slithers gracefully across a frozen surface, looking as intimidating as the monstrous snakes seen in movies.
The giant bizarre snake crawling across the “Mars Yard” at JPL – (Photo: NASA).
This is NASA’s latest extraterrestrial life-hunting robot, currently being tested at JPL in preparation for a mission to explore “worlds of life” that resemble the harsh environments of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
According to Space, it is named Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS), designed with many flexible “vertebrae” that operate seamlessly in a chain, allowing it to twist and bend like a real snake.
The giant snake is being developed and tested by NASA – (Clip: NASA).
This seemingly strange concept aims to enable the snake-like lander to navigate complex terrains that traditional rover-like landers such as Curiosity or Perseverance, currently operational on Mars, cannot traverse.
“While some robots perform better in specific terrains, the idea for EELS is to be capable of handling all types” – Project Director Matthew Robinson stated.
This robotic snake is currently in its first testing phase at the “Mars Yard” of JPL, a simulated environment mimicking Mars’ harsh terrain and climate.
It also took a “trip” to a ski resort in Southern California in February 2023 to test its performance on snowy terrain.
Moreover, it must possess autonomous capabilities similar to those of Mars rovers, as radio signals take up to 1.5 hours to travel from Earth to Saturn.
Testing at a ski resort – (Photo: NASA).
This giant snake will need to autonomously find suitable pathways across the icy surface riddled with cracks of Enceladus, descending to depths of over 30 meters without falling, thereby getting closer to evidence of a subsurface ocean beneath this life-bearing moon.
This type of robot could also be applied in closer worlds like Mars, for example, crawling through the planet’s lava tubes, a task that rovers cannot perform.
Of course, like other lander-type robots, this monstrous snake will be equipped with cameras, sensors, and various sophisticated devices to operate almost independently as an explorer in distant worlds.
