14 DAY TRIAL // Investigators at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California are currently toying with the idea of creating flat, rug-like robots for exploring other worlds. Their efforts are supported by a grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, worth $100,000 (€72,000).
The main tenet in this proposal is eliminating most of the risks traditionally associated with planetary exploration. Many spacecraft have been lost during the intricate process of entering the atmosphere of another planet or moon. By sending robotic rugs fluttering to the surface on their own, much of these risks would be eliminated outright.
If applied, this proposal would represent a significant departure from existing mission protocols, which usually call for the development and construction of single, extremely-capable landers, orbiters, and rovers, such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity. These missions usually cost hundreds of millions to billions of dollars to put together.
What the JPL group is proposing is using masses of blanket-sized robotic landers, which would cost a lot less to design and build. Additionally, spreading these machines over larger areas minimizes the chances of all of them falling in areas that hold no scientific value. This also corrects any errors that may have appeared in their flight paths during descent.
This type of lander “gives you the capability to stack them up and distribute them over a wide range of areas rather than just be able to land in only one place, and have one shot at landing. We think it will enable NASA to go places that that they don't dare to go right now,” JPL expert Hamid Hemmati said at an NAIC symposium, held in late February at the Stanford University, as quoted by Space.
Each of the proposed landers would be 1 meter long by 1 meter wide (3 by 3 feet), but just a centimeter (0.4 inches) thick. Due to their low weight, their atmospheric entry speed would be very low, meaning that they would not require altitude-control rockets, radars, and related systems to land safely.
“They don't all have to survive; we have dozens of them. Even if half of them make it, it's still good. We'll be happy,” Hemmati added. Each sheet lander would be powered up by solar cells, based on new thin and flexible electronics. The technology is still young today, but it will probably mature enough within the next half decade.
In addition to exploring worlds such as Mars, these landers would also work on more distant celestial bodies, such as the Jovian moon Europa, and Saturn's Enceladus. These moons are very likely to contain a liquid ocean buried under miles of ice, so a mission that actually touches down on their surface could contribute significantly to establishing their internal structures more precisely.
Furthermore, each sheet lander could receive energy through light beams, from the orbiter that deploys them. Such applications are currently being investigated at JPL. DARPA has provided the Lab with additional funds to study if laser weapons can be deployed on this platform on the battlefield.