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PROMETHEUS: Progress Toward an Integrated Cryobot for Ocean World Access
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  • Kristof Richmond,
  • Bartholomew Hogan,
  • Alberto Lopez,
  • Harman John,
  • Krista Myers,
  • Veronica Guerrero,
  • Ephraim Lanford,
  • James Ralston,
  • Neal Tanner,
  • Victoria Siegel,
  • William Stone
Kristof Richmond
Stone Aerospace

Corresponding Author:kristof.richmond@stoneaerospace.com

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Bartholomew Hogan
Stone Aerospace
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Alberto Lopez
Stone Aerospace
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Harman John
Stone Aerospace
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Krista Myers
Scale Free Systems
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Veronica Guerrero
Stone Aerospace
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Ephraim Lanford
Stone Aerospace
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James Ralston
Stone Aerospace
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Neal Tanner
Stone Aerospace
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Victoria Siegel
Stone Aerospace
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William Stone
Stone Aerospace
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Abstract

Ocean Worlds in our Solar System are attractive candidates in the search for extra-terrestrial life. The best chances for detecting biosignatures and biology on these bodies lie in in situ investigations of sub-ice oceans in contact with rocky interiors. The actual conditions that will confront an ice-penetrating vehicle (“cryobot”) performing such investigations are largely unknown. However, any Ocean World cryobot must be able to, at a minimum, successfully negotiate five different operating regimes to have a chance of reaching a subsurface ocean: starting at the surface in vacuum at cryogenic temperatures; brittle/cold ice transit; ductile/warm ice transit; negotiating or penetrating salt or sediment layers, and other obstacles; and detecting and transiting ice-water transitions such as voids and the final ocean entry. PROMETHEUS (nuclear-Powered RObotic MEchanism Technology for Hot-water Exploration of Under-ice Space) represents a full cryobot concept and set of key technology demonstrations that advance the capability to perform such investigations. The PROMETHEUS concept is targeted for deployment on Europa, and consists of a fully-instrumented science vehicle able to actively control descent through the ice shell and into the subsurface ocean. The concept employs closed-cycle hot water drilling (CCHWD) technology as the primary means of penetrating ice, and making forward and turning progress. A “passive” (purely conductive) heat transfer system enables penetration starting on the surface where liquid water cannot exist until hole closure is achieved and the system proceeds inside a melt water “bubble”. PROMETHEUS is compatible with a small fission reactor (the NASA Kilopower design) and employs a vertical motion control system using a trailing tether frozen into the ice to guard against falling through voids and enabling controlled entry into the sub-ice ocean. The design is capable of achieving a 20 km descent through a Europan ice profile in under a year and under 500 kg vehicle mass, including reactor mass.