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About

Andrew Mullen is a robotics engineer and polar field researcher whose work bridges the gap between extreme environment exploration and planetary science. His primary research areas include underwater robotics, cryospheric instrumentation, and the design of autonomous systems for sub-ice access. Mullen’s most significant contribution is the development of the Icefin underwater robot, which he helped design and deploy for the first long-range robotic exploration of the grounding zone of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. This mission, part of the MELT project of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, provided unprecedented in-situ observations of a rapidly changing glacier system. Mullen also led the design of the Vertical Entry Robot for Navigating Europa (VERNE) mission concept, a proposed system for accessing subsurface oceans on icy moons like Europa. His work on a compact water sampler for Icefin enables discrete sample collection in high-pressure, low-temperature environments. With over 18 citations across his most-cited papers, Mullen’s research is foundational to the future of sub-ice oceanography and astrobiology. His achievements demonstrate a rare combination of hardware innovation, field deployment, and mission-level systems engineering.