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IceMole is an autonomous ice research probe, incorporating a new type of ice-melting tip for the exploration of polar regions, glaciers, ice sheets, and extraterrestrial regions, developed by a team from the FH Aachen, a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences) in Aachen, Germany. The advance over previous probes is that the IceMole can change its direction and can be recovered after being used. A driving ice screw allows the probe to drill through soil layers and other contaminations in the ice. ==History== The IceMole is being developed using rapid prototyping. , the probe is in its first prototype and it has been designed to carry out the subsurface investigation of terrestrial glaciers and ice shields. It is planned that future versions of the probe would be suitably adapted for extraterrestrial ice research, e.g. on the polar caps of Mars, the Jovian moon of Europa, or Saturn’s moon Enceladus.〔 The robot resulted from a student project at the Fachbereich Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik (Faculty of Aerospace Engineering) at the FH Aachen, led by Prof. Dr. Bernd Dachwald. The excavation is carried out by both drilling and melting of the ice. In a clean ice core, the probe can analyze the surrounding ice with measuring instruments.〔 While drilling, the surrounding ice is not biologically contaminated.〔 , the project objectives are given as:〔 The project requirements also emphasised the need for maximum reliability, robustness, mobility, environmental security and autonomy.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「IceMole」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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