Photonbelt

The water locked underneath icecaps or glaciers can tell us about our planet’s past and its possibly warmer future. Similar environments on distant worlds could tell us whether life can originate in these harsh conditions. To study the icy depths, a Swedish team of researchers is designing a tiny submersible that can slip down a narrow borehole.

There exists a menagerie of different remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), some of which have already studied the frigid boundaries between ice and sea. However, none of them are compact enough to snake their way several kilometers below the ice.

“Most of the other ROVs are not this small because they don’t need to be,” said Jonas Jonsson of the Ångstrom Space Technology Centre (ÅSTC) at Uppsala University in Sweden.

In response to growing interest in studying sub-glacial lakes on Earth, Jonsson and his colleagues are developing a cylindrical probe 5 centimeters across and 20 centimeters long – smaller than two soda cans stuck end to end.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Mini_Sub_For_Small_Spaces_999.html