Cryobot
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A cryobot or Philberth-probe is a robot designed to operate in or around water ice.
The cryobot is a surface-controlled, nonrecoverable instrumented vehicle that can penetrate polar ice sheets down to 3600 m by melting. It can be used to measure temperature, stress, ice movement, and seismic, acoustic and dielectric properties. It can also be used for other investigations with remote instrumentation. The probe consists of a hot point for melt penetration, instrumentation for control and measurement functions, two supply conductor coils to link the probe with the surface for transmission of power and measurement signals, and a reservoir section. The probe is filled with a dielectric fluid.
Cryobots are being tested in Antarctica as prototypes for a space probe that may someday penetrate the icy surface of Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and explore the liquid water ocean thought to be present below the ice, which may harbour extraterrestrial life [1], [2], [3].
The cryobot was invented by German physicist Karl Philberth who first demonstrated it in the 1960s as part of the International Glaciological Greenland Expedition (EGIG), achieving drilling depths in excess of 1,000m.
