NASA robo goes skinny dipping

Not that NASA likes to throw million-dollar robotic probes in ice-cold water just for kicks, but their latest newborn Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic Antarctic Explorer (ENDURANCE) probe has to take quite a few underwater sessions, including skinny dipping in Lake Mendota in Wisconsin, under a frozen Antarctic lake and under the frozen seas of the Jovian moon Europa. Why you ask? Well, the probe was designed to make 3D maps of underwater environments and collecting microbial samples from the impregnable depths. And to think the practice session include a four-day underwater sojourn under icy water for the little robo ‘cause the big guys just wanna make sure it will perform as intended when they ship it off to permanently ice-covered West Lake Bonney, in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys. Gosh, what a bad day to be a robotic submarine I say! But hey, the soldier’s next mission, if he succeeds, will be to explore the hidden mysteries of Europa’s oceans trapped under the moon’s icy surface! That should be a real out of the world experience, what say you?
Via: Gizmo Watch