robot Archives

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California monitor a research drone in the Dumont Dunes area of the Mojave Desert in September as part of a test campaign to develop navigation software to guide future rotorcraft on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

NASA Tests Future Mars Droids In Death Valley

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Next-generation drone flight software is just one of 25 technologies for the Red Planet that the space agency funded for development this year.

Artist’s concept image of a spacecraft lander with a robot arm on the surface of Europa. Credits: NASA/JPL – Caltech

Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Towards Autonomous Surface Missions on Ocean Worlds

by Keith CowingDecember 7, 2024December 7, 2024

Through advanced autonomy testbed programs, NASA is setting the groundwork for one of its top priorities—the search for signs of life and potentially habitable bodies in our solar system and […]

Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

NASA’s SWIM Robot on Glacial Ice in Alaska

by Keith CowingNovember 25, 2024November 25, 2024

A model of a tiny, wedge-shaped robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons, right, sits beside a large waterproof capsule containing electronics and sensors for testing below glacial […]

A prototype of a robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons is reflected in the water’s surface during a pool test at Caltech in September. Conducted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the testing showed the feasibility of a mission concept for a swarm of mini swimming robots. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Cryobiology, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Ocean World Explorers For Future Astrobiology Missions

by Keith CowingNovember 20, 2024

When NASA’s Europa Clipper reaches its destination in 2030, the spacecraft will prepare to aim an array of powerful science instruments toward Jupiter’s moon Europa during 49 flybys, looking for […]

RV Polarstern in inner Pine Island Bay (Photo: R. Larter, BAS)

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exploration Gear & Tech, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Planet Update: The Dawn Of Earth’s Antarctic Ice Sheets

by Keith CowingJuly 14, 2024July 7, 2024

For the first time, researchers, including from British Antarctic Survey, have combined unique geological samples with sophisticated modelling to provide surprising insights into when and where today’s East and West […]

Rendered graphic of the MARUM-MeBo70 landing on the seabed of the Amundsen Sea coast of West Antarctica

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Planet Update: Landing A Droid On The Antarctic Seabed – Formation Of Antarctica’s Ice Sheet

by Keith CowingJuly 11, 2024July 7, 2024

In recent years global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice sheets. The “eternal” ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, particularly in West Antarctica more […]

ReachBot is a robotic concept that uses extending booms as prismatic limbs to navigate difficult terrain. Shown in a rendering is the full ReachBot configuration overlaid on a photograph of the field test site in the Lavic Lake volcanic field in the Mojave Desert. -- cs.RO

Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: ReachBot Field Tests in a Mojave Desert Lava Tube as a Martian Analog

by Keith CowingJuly 11, 2024August 23, 2025

ReachBot is a robot concept for the planetary exploration of caves and lava tubes, which are often inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion methods.

Evolution of the compaction coefficient λ(η, t) with the ice viscosity and the compaction time. The average ice compaction coefficient measured on Earth is given by the yellow line λ = 5.5 × 10−6 Pa−1 . Black square represents the location of the Antarctica A2 dataset in this graph, estimated from the local accumulation rate of snow. White square represents our scenario for Europa, where the compaction time is taken to be the ice crust age and for a viscosity of η = 1021 Pa s [23]. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Icy Worlds, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Gravity-Induced Ice Compaction and Subsurface Porosity on Icy Moons

by Keith CowingNovember 20, 2023November 20, 2023

Our understanding of the surface porosity of icy moons and its evolution with depth remains limited, including the precise scale at which ice compaction occurs under self-weight pressure.

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Droids: Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS)

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2023March 20, 2023

The EELS system is a mobile instrument platform conceived to explore internal terrain structures, assess habitability and ultimately search for evidence of life. It is designed to be adaptable to […]

An illustration of an early concept of Shapeshifter imagines the robots on Saturn's moon Titan. In the picture, the Shapeshifter breaks into smaller pieces that can investigate a methane waterfall from the sky. Shapeshifter is a developing concept for a transformational vehicle to explore treacherous, distant worlds. The flying amphibious robot is part of the early-stage research program NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), which offers several phases of funding to visionary concepts, helping turn ideas that sound like science fiction into science fact. JPL Principle Investigator Ali Agha envisions Shapeshifter as a mission to Saturn's moon Titan, the only other world in the solar system known to have liquid in the form of methane lakes, rivers and seas on its surface.

Exploration Gear & Tech, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Saturn, Titan

NASA Is Designing Shapeshifting Robots for Saturn’s Moons

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2019June 13, 2024

Mini robots that can roll, fly, float and swim, then morph into a single machine? Together they form Shapeshifter, a developing concept for a transformational vehicle to explore treacherous, distant […]