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NASA's Europa Jupiter System Mission, set for 2026, will be the first survey Jupiter's frozen moon. Scientists also plan to explore the moon's liquid oceans, which are buried under 6km of ice. Getting through that will be tough. But once we hit water, Eurpoa's interior will be explored by the most advanced autonomous underwater vehicle ever built. The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) is the brainchild of Dr. Bill Stone, CEO of Stone Aerospace in Austin, Texas. It has been developed by his team in concert with Carnegie Mellon University, the Southwest Research Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, the Colorado School of Mines, and NASA Ames Research Center. The DEPTHX is designed to explore and map submerged areas while collecting water and core samples. Unlike the Mars Rovers, the incredible distance to Europa—roughly 5.2 AU on average—and constantly changing aqueous environment preclude any sort of Earth-based control system. Instead, the DEPTHX will ha...

NASA's Europa Jupiter System Mission, set for 2026, will be the first survey Jupiter's frozen moon. Scientists also plan to explore the moon's liquid oceans, which are buried under 6km of ice. Getting through that will be tough. But once we hit water, Eurpoa's interior will be explored by the most advanced autonomous underwater vehicle ever built. The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) is the brainchild of Dr. Bill Stone, CEO of Stone Aerospace in Austin, Texas. It has been developed by his team in concert with Carnegie Mellon University, the Southwest Research Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, the Colorado School of Mines, and NASA Ames Research Center. The DEPTHX is designed to explore and map submerged areas while collecting water and core samples. Unlike the Mars Rovers, the incredible distance to Europa—roughly 5.2 AU on average—and constantly changing aqueous environment preclude any sort of Earth-based control system. Instead, the DEPTHX will ha...