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  - https://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  - Mikucki, Jill Ann
A1  - Schuler, C. G.
A1  - Digel, Ilya
A1  - Kowalski, Julia
A1  - Tuttle, M. J.
A1  - Chua, Michelle
A1  - Davis, R.
A1  - Purcell, Alicia
A1  - Ghosh, D.
A1  - Francke, G.
A1  - Feldmann, M.
A1  - Espe, C.
A1  - Heinen, Dirk
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Clemens, Joachim
A1  - Lyons, W. B.
A1  - Tulaczyk, S.
T1  - Field-Based planetary protection operations for melt probes: validation of clean access into the blood falls, antarctica, englacial ecosystem
JF  - Astrobiology
N2  - Subglacial environments on Earth offer important analogs to Ocean World targets in our solar system. These unique microbial ecosystems remain understudied due to the challenges of access through thick glacial ice (tens to hundreds of meters). Additionally, sub-ice collections must be conducted in a clean manner to ensure sample integrity for downstream microbiological and geochemical analyses. We describe the field-based cleaning of a melt probe that was used to collect brine samples from within a glacier conduit at Blood Falls, Antarctica, for geomicrobiological studies. We used a thermoelectric melting probe called the IceMole that was designed to be minimally invasive in that the logistical requirements in support of drilling operations were small and the probe could be cleaned, even in a remote field setting, so as to minimize potential contamination. In our study, the exterior bioburden on the IceMole was reduced to levels measured in most clean rooms, and below that of the ice surrounding our sampling target. Potential microbial contaminants were identified during the cleaning process; however, very few were detected in the final englacial sample collected with the IceMole and were present in extremely low abundances (∼0.063% of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences). This cleaning protocol can help minimize contamination when working in remote field locations, support microbiological sampling of terrestrial subglacial environments using melting probes, and help inform planetary protection challenges for Ocean World analog mission concepts.
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0102
SN  - 1557-8070 (online)
SN  - 153-1074 (print)
VL  - 23
IS  - 11
SP  - 1165
EP  - 1178
PB  - Liebert
CY  - New York, NY
ER  -