SIMPLE

Funded by NASA, the SIMPLE project (Sub-ice Investigation of Marine and Planetary-analog Ecosystems) deploys an autonomous underwater vehicle whose sensors collect biogeochemical data on the water’s composition (salinity, pressure, conductivity and oxygen concentration), photograph the underside of the ice, and use sonar to map the ice surface from below. The goal is to compare measurements of the ice shelf taken from beneath the ice with those taken from above, in order to improve future mapping missions to Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa and eventually send an AUV under that ice to search for life. SIMPLE is a collaboration of UIC, Stone Aerospace, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, San Jose State, University of Texas at Austin and Montana State University, and follows the earlier NASA-funded ENDURANCE project.

Original news post: SIMPLE project (Sub-ice Investigation of Marine and Planetary-analog Ecosystems)