Cryotwin – Digital infrastructure for virtually-assisted preparation and analysis of cryo-robotic exploration missions

EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition, pp. 1–5

Abstract

Summary It is by now widely accepted that some of the icy moons of our Solar System, such as the Jovian moon Europa and the Saturnian moon Enceladus, may host global oceans underneath their icy shells. These so-called ocean worlds are believed to be the most promising candidates to find habitable environments beyond Earth. Upcoming space exploration missions, such as NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE mission, will enable us to further constrain local cryo-environmental conditions. Yet, any conclusive proof for the existence of life will most likely require in-situ measurements and necessitates to penetrate the thick icy shell and access the englacial or subglacial water reservoirs directly. Subglacial cryo-habitats in polar regions on Earth constitute important terrestrial analogue sites to test cryo-robotic technology for planetary exploration missions. This underlines the big synergetic potential between the polar and planetary research communities. Developing autonomous exploration robots with a joint digital infrastructure would be a great advancement. In this work, we will discuss requirements for a digital infrastructure that facilitates the virtually-assisted preparation and analysis of cryo-robotic exploration missions, and present implementation examples based on various recent projects conducted by the German Space Administration within the scope of their Explorer Initiatives.

Authors 5

1. Julia Kowalski Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Rwth Aachen University

2. Leonardo Boledi Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Rwth Aachen University

3. Marc S. Boxberg
4. Qian Chen Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Rwth Aachen University

5. Anna Simson Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Rwth Aachen University