A bizarre snake-like robot has just been born on the “Mars Yard” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), preparing for a mission to search for extraterrestrial life on icy moons.
In a recently released clip by NASA, a giant robotic snake is seen slithering with remarkable agility across the icy surface, looking as terrifying as the monster snakes depicted in movies.
The bizarre, large snake is slithering across the “Mars Yard” at JPL – (Image: NASA).
This is NASA’s latest extraterrestrial life-hunting robot, currently being tested at JPL in preparation for missions to explore “worlds of life” that exhibit harsh conditions, such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
According to Space, it is named Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS), designed with flexible “vertebrae” that work in a coordinated manner, allowing it to twist and bend like a real snake.
The giant snake is being developed and tested by NASA – (Clip: NASA).
This seemingly bizarre concept is actually aimed at enabling this snake-shaped lander to traverse complex terrains that traditional rovers like Curiosity or Perseverance on Mars cannot navigate.
“While some robots perform better in specific types of terrain, the idea for EELS is the ability to do it all,” asserted EELS project director Matthew Robinson.
This snake robot is still in the initial testing phase at the “Mars Yard” of JPL, a simulated environment replicating the harsh terrain and climate of Mars.
It also took a “trip” to a ski resort in Southern California in February 2023 to test its capabilities on snowy terrain.
It will need to have autonomous capabilities similar to those of Mars rovers, as radio signals take about 1.5 hours to travel from Earth to Saturn.
Testing at a ski resort – (Image: NASA).
This giant snake will need to autonomously find suitable paths on the cracked icy surface of Enceladus, slithering down to depths of over 30 meters without falling, in order to get closer to evidence of a subsurface ocean beneath this life-sustaining moon.
This type of robot could also be applied in nearer worlds like Mars, for instance, to navigate through the planet’s lava tubes, something that rovers cannot do.
Of course, like other lander-type robots, this monstrous snake will be equipped with cameras, sensors, and various sophisticated devices to operate as an almost independent explorer in distant worlds.
