Dive for the stars - How an autonomous submersible with a difference could pave the way for a future mission to seek out life in lakes beneath the ice on one of Jupiter's moons

摘要

THE ROBOT was jammed 25m down, just under the roof of one of the world's deepest flooded caves at the El Zacaton complex in Mexico. On its way back from a four-hour mission, the robot - DepthX - had a problem with its sonar processing and drove itself into a wall. The only way for the team on the surface to rescue its ￡2.5m (USD5m) investment was to don scuba equipment and dive down into the inky blackness to help nudge it free.