Exploring new worlds is not quite as easy as shown in science fiction movies and popular culture. Take the icy moon of Jupiter, Europa for example. In the Arthur Clark series it was very much populated and easily explored. In real life, that’s not quite the case. The icy shell of the moon makes it very difficult to reach the sub surface ocean.

The Galileo spacecraft sent by NASA was able to make a number of passes of Europa as it flew past through the years 1995 to 2003. Most of our knowledge of the moon is based on the observations that were recorded during these fly pasts by Galileo. The researchers are convinced that the ocean on Europa either has flourishing microbial activity today, or will reveal signs of the same from now extinct microbial life.

In order to find it, they are working on a nuclear powered tunnel bot that will be able to dig it’s way through the outer ice and head into the ocean. The researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago, are performing a concept study for such a bot. This is one science project that still needs a whole lot of work to be done before it can be implemented.