NASA is developing robots that will swim beneath Antarctic ice and measure how quickly it's melting

[Judi Lynn]

Iain Todd

Published: August 31, 2024 at 3:45 am

NASA is developing a fleet of robots that will swim beneath the Antarctic ice shelves to reveal how quickly they are melting, and how quickly that might cause global sea levels to rise.

Called IceNode, the mission will send robots to explore regions of Antarctica that humans can't reach and satellites can't see, providing vital data on how our heating planet is causing Antarctic ice to melt.

Numerous satellites orbit Earth to measure the effects of climate change, but one of NASA's newest projects is a fleet of underwater robots that would explore Antarctica.

Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been conducting tests to develop the IceNode robots in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.

More:
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/nasa-icenode

[Think. Again.]

1. Excellent!

Let's hope this can be accomplished in time to have some positive effects before the effort becomes futile.