Vertical Entry Robot for Navigating Europa (VERNE) Mission and System Design

Abstract

Several moons in our solar system, including Europa, are believed to host large bodies of liquid water beneath ice shells. These water bodies are compelling locations in the search for life beyond Earth, but present significant challenges to access in future planetary missions. The Vertical Entry Robot for Navigating Europa (VERNE) is a robotic mission concept to penetrate and operate within Europa’s ice shell and ocean funded through the Scientific Exploration Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europa (SESAME) program. SESAME requires a vehicle capable of penetrating a hypothetical 15 km Europan ice shell within three years. VERNE will utilize a thermo-mechanical drill to descend into the ice while a suite of onboard sensors constrains ice properties and look for life by analyzing the meltwater. Data will be relayed to a surface lander via a redundant communication system comprised of a primary optical fiber cable and secondary wireless acoustic repeaters. Upon nearing the base of the ice shell, VERNE will release an anchor and then breakthrough into the ocean to profile the upper 100 m of the ocean and ice interface, a region with high potential for evidence of life. Here we present the mission success criteria, concept of operation, and vehicle architecture. We identify key technologies that are currently available as well as those that require maturation to support future subsurface access of ocean worlds. Throughout this activity, the design team sought to leverage experience with analog environments on Earth to generate a concept which demonstrates that such a mission is feasible within the coming decades.