One important aspect of future missions to ice-covered moons within our solar system is the exploration of the oceans underneath the ice. Based on the exploration concept developed in the Europa-Explorer project, the aim of the EurEx-LUNa project is to further evolve the under-ice navigation and exploration capabilities of an autonomous system and subsequently evaluate them in an analog mission.
In order to allow for persistent exploration in challenging and difficult to access environments, both the software and the hardware of an autonomous underwater vehicle must be thoroughly tested and continuously improved. An essential part is the safe return of the underwater vehicle and to successfully attach to the docking interface, allowing data and energy exchange.
To evaluate the capabilities and robustness of the overall system an analog mission will be carried out in an ice-covered lake.
In March 2002 a successful field test was carried out in Abisko, Sweden. The AUV was active for more than 50 hours in the frozen lake, into which it could be introduced through a hole in the 90cm thick layer of ice previously cut by the local Abisko Scientific Research Station (ANS). During the field tests, the ability of the AUV to find its way back to the ice hole at the end of a mission and dock at the docking station fully autonomously could be demonstrated.
