TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Mikucki, Jill A1 - Tulaczyk, Slawek A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Espe, Clemens A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Xu, Changsheng T1 - IceMole : A maneuverable probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of subsurface ice and subglacial aquatic ecosystems JF - Annals of Glaciology N2 - There is significant interest in sampling subglacial environments for geobiological studies, but they are difficult to access. Existing ice-drilling technologies make it cumbersome to maintain microbiologically clean access for sample acquisition and environmental stewardship of potentially fragile subglacial aquatic ecosystems. The IceMole is a maneuverable subsurface ice probe for clean in situ analysis and sampling of glacial ice and subglacial materials. The design is based on the novel concept of combining melting and mechanical propulsion. It can change melting direction by differential heating of the melting head and optional side-wall heaters. The first two prototypes were successfully tested between 2010 and 2012 on glaciers in Switzerland and Iceland. They demonstrated downward, horizontal and upward melting, as well as curve driving and dirt layer penetration. A more advanced probe is currently under development as part of the Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) project. It offers systems for obstacle avoidance, target detection, and navigation in ice. For the EnEx-IceMole, we will pay particular attention to clean protocols for the sampling of subglacial materials for biogeochemical analysis. We plan to use this probe for clean access into a unique subglacial aquatic environment at Blood Falls, Antarctica, with return of a subglacial brine sample. KW - Antarctic Glaciology KW - Extraterrestrial Glaciology KW - Glaciological instruments and methods KW - Subclacial exploration KW - Subglacial lakes Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014AoG65A004 SN - 1727-5644 VL - 55 IS - 65 SP - 14 EP - 22 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Linder, Peter A1 - Zierke, S. A1 - Wulfen, B. van A1 - Clemens, J. A1 - Konstantinidis, K. A1 - Ameres, G. A1 - Hoffmann, R. A1 - Mikucki, J. A1 - Tulaczyk, S. A1 - Funke, O. A1 - Blandfort, D. A1 - Espe, Clemens A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Hiecker, S. A1 - Plescher, Engelbert A1 - Schöngarth, Sarah A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Eliseev, D. A1 - Heinen, D. A1 - Scholz, F. A1 - Wiebusch, C. A1 - Macht, S. A1 - Bestmann, U. A1 - Reineking, T. A1 - Zetzsche, C. A1 - Schill, K. A1 - Förstner, R. A1 - Niedermeier, H. A1 - Szumski, A. A1 - Eissfeller, B. A1 - Naumann, U. A1 - Helbing, K. T1 - Navigation technology for exploration of glacier ice with maneuverable melting probes JF - Cold Regions Science and Technology N2 - The Saturnian moon Enceladus with its extensive water bodies underneath a thick ice sheet cover is a potential candidate for extraterrestrial life. Direct exploration of such extraterrestrial aquatic ecosystems requires advanced access and sampling technologies with a high level of autonomy. A new technological approach has been developed as part of the collaborative research project Enceladus Explorer (EnEx). The concept is based upon a minimally invasive melting probe called the IceMole. The force-regulated, heater-controlled IceMole is able to travel along a curved trajectory as well as upwards. Hence, it allows maneuvers which may be necessary for obstacle avoidance or target selection. Maneuverability, however, necessitates a sophisticated on-board navigation system capable of autonomous operations. The development of such a navigational system has been the focal part of the EnEx project. The original IceMole has been further developed to include relative positioning based on in-ice attitude determination, acoustic positioning, ultrasonic obstacle and target detection integrated through a high-level sensor fusion. This paper describes the EnEx technology and discusses implications for an actual extraterrestrial mission concept. Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2015.11.006 SN - 0165-232X IS - 123 SP - 53 EP - 70 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - German, Laura A1 - Mikucki, Jill A. A1 - Welch, Susan A. A1 - Welch, Kathleen A. A1 - Lutton, Anthony A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Heinen, Dirk A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Espe, Clemens A1 - Lyons, W. Berry T1 - Validation of sampling antarctic subglacial hypersaline waters with an electrothermal ice melting probe (IceMole) for environmental analytical geochemistry JF - International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry N2 - Geochemical characterisation of hypersaline waters is difficult as high concentrations of salts hinder the analysis of constituents at low concentrations, such as trace metals, and the collection of samples for trace metal analysis in natural waters can be easily contaminated. This is particularly the case if samples are collected by non-conventional techniques such as those required for aquatic subglacial environments. In this paper we present the first analysis of a subglacial brine from Taylor Valley, (~ 78°S), Antarctica for the trace metals: Ba, Co, Mo, Rb, Sr, V, and U. Samples were collected englacially using an electrothermal melting probe called the IceMole. This probe uses differential heating of a copper head as well as the probe’s sidewalls and an ice screw at the melting head to move through glacier ice. Detailed blanks, meltwater, and subglacial brine samples were collected to evaluate the impact of the IceMole and the borehole pump, the melting and collection process, filtration, and storage on the geochemistry of the samples collected by this device. Comparisons between melt water profiles through the glacier ice and blank analysis, with published studies on ice geochemistry, suggest the potential for minor contributions of some species Rb, As, Co, Mn, Ni, NH4+, and NO2−+NO3− from the IceMole. The ability to conduct detailed chemical analyses of subglacial fluids collected with melting probes is critical for the future exploration of the hundreds of deep subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2019.1704750 SN - 0306-7319 VL - 101 IS - 15 SP - 2654 EP - 2667 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Blandford, Daniel A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Espe, Clemens A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Hiecke, Hannah A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Lindner, Peter A1 - Plescher, Engelbert A1 - Schöngarth, Sarah T1 - Enceladus Explorer : Schlussbericht — Version: 1.0 Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.2314/GBV:86319950X N1 - Förderkennzeichen BMWi 50NA1206 PB - FH Aachen CY - Aachen ER - TY - GEN A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Espe, Clemes A1 - Chen, Qian A1 - Baader, Fabian A1 - Boxberg, Marc S. A1 - Sustrate, Anna-Marie A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Performance data of an ice-melting probe from field tests in two different ice environments N2 - This dataset was acquired at field tests of the steerable ice-melting probe "EnEx-IceMole" (Dachwald et al., 2014). A field test in summer 2014 was used to test the melting probe's system, before the probe was shipped to Antarctica, where, in international cooperation with the MIDGE project, the objective of a sampling mission in the southern hemisphere summer 2014/2015 was to return a clean englacial sample from the subglacial brine reservoir supplying the Blood Falls at Taylor Glacier (Badgeley et al., 2017, German et al., 2021). The standardized log-files generated by the IceMole during melting operation include more than 100 operational parameters, housekeeping information, and error states, which are reported to the base station in intervals of 4 s. Occasional packet loss in data transmission resulted in a sparse number of increased sampling intervals, which where compensated for by linear interpolation during post processing. The presented dataset is based on a subset of this data: The penetration distance is calculated based on the ice screw drive encoder signal, providing the rate of rotation, and the screw's thread pitch. The melting speed is calculated from the same data, assuming the rate of rotation to be constant over one sampling interval. The contact force is calculated from the longitudinal screw force, which es measured by strain gauges. The used heating power is calculated from binary states of all heating elements, which can only be either switched on or off. Temperatures are measured at each heating element and averaged for three zones (melting head, side-wall heaters and back-plate heaters). KW - Ocean Worlds KW - Icy Moons KW - Cryobot KW - Analogue Environments KW - Melting Efficiency KW - Melting Performance KW - Melting Probe KW - Ice Melting Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6094866 N1 - Forschungsdaten zu "Field-test performance of an ice-melting probe in a terrestrial analogue environment" (https://opus.bibliothek.fh-aachen.de/opus4/frontdoor/index/index/docId/10889) ER -