The jewel-coloured hole in the glacier is just about big enough for me to fall into. As I edge around it, I'm grateful for the spikes strapped to my boots. But I can't resist the urge to peer into the blue depths, where a cigar-shaped robot is blazing a trail in the hunt for life beyond Earth. After a 2-hour drive from Anchorage and a short flight in a bush plane, I'm standing on Matanuska glacier in Alaska. I arrive during the last week of field tests for the robotic explorer VALKYRIE, which could one day dive into the ocean thought to hide beneath the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa, looking for signs of life.
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