NEMO: A mission to search for and return to Earth possible life forms on Europa

摘要

The Nuclear Europa Mobile Ocean (NEMO) mission would land on the surface of Europa, and deploy a small, lightweight melt probe powered by a compact nuclear reactor to melt down through the multi-kilometer ice sheet. After reaching the sub-surface ocean, a small nuclear Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) would deploy to explore the sub-ice ocean. After exploration and sample collection, the AUV would return to the probe and melt back to the lander. The lander would have replenished its H_2 propellant by electrolysis of H_2O ice, and then hop to a new site on Europa to repeat the probe/AUV process. After completing the mission, the NEMO spacecraft would return to Earth with its collected samples. The NEMO melt probe and AUV utilize enriched U-235 fuel and conventional water reactor technology. The lander utilizes a compact nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine based on the 710 tungsten/UO_2 cermet fuel and high-temperature H2 propellant. The compact nuclear reactors in both the NEMO melt probe and AUV drive a steam power cycle, generating over 10 kW(e) for use in each. Each nuclear reactor's operating lifetime is several years. With its high-mobility and long-duration mission, NEMO provides an ideal platform for life detection experiments.