Nasa JPL IceNode Project

IceNode is a robotics Project (shown on the left) being worked on by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, Its goal: Use a fleet of autonomous robots to determine the rate at which Antarctica is melting. The bots would be able to reach into what is referred to as the “grounding zone”, the area where the floating ice shelves, ocean water, and solid ground meet. This zone is full of turbulent waters and unstable ice making it hazardous to humans, and impenetrable to satellites, making automated robots the only viable option.

To pull this off would require an effort spanning a number of disciplines, from the obvious of robotics and electronics; To the less obvious being the climatology knowledge needed to design the survey instruments or the oceanic modeling that is needed as the robots have no method of propulsion and are designed to use ocean currents to traverse and find somwhere to latch onto the ice.