Jupiter and Saturn’s moons are very promising in terms of scientific research. I read about NASA’s BRUIE robot planned to be send to Jupiter's moon Europa for exploration. I thought about my version of such a robot explorer.
The Europa Explorer I plan will be deployed by the “Far Away Rocket” I had proposed earlier. Its single engine, multiple propellent tank design excels in high energy space missions. Due to its design, the payload should be stored around the long vacuum nozzle of the rocket. The rocket will only operate in vacuum. Therefore, even some space would protect the payload from extreme heats without extra shield.
The explorer needs to be toroidal to maximize the volume of the storage space. The explorer will have four legs to help it navigate on the ice and underwater. The foots of the robot will be wide like fins of a duct. Which will increase the traction on ice as well as improve swimming. The toroidal base will also have ballast tanks to adjust its buoyance underwater.
The toroidal body of the explorer will be filled with liquid hydrogen. Some of it will be used to slow the explorer during its decent to Europa. The major power supply of the robot will be nuclear battery. Radioactive heat will be used to keep the sensitive parts warm as well. This heat will also be used to heat up the exhausted hydrogen to improve thrust.
Once, the explorer safely lands, it will deploy a blimp and fill it with hydrogen gas. The blimp will also be powered by a nuclear battery. The atmosphere of Europa is mostly oxygen which is considerably heavier than hydrogen. Allowing for a balloon navigation. The abondance of water on the moon will allow the balloon to be refilled by the Explorer’s onboard electrolysis hydrogen generator.
As a result, with a single mission Europe will be explored on the surface, underwater and over the air.
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