NASA tests robot snakes to send to other planets

These snake-shaped robots, called EELS, could one day explore the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus in search of life.

These serpentine robots, named EELS , are being tested by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a potential explorer of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.

Despite these seemingly inhospitable conditions, data gathered by NASA's 2005 Cassini mission found that huge amounts of water and gas spurt out of the planet's surface at immense speeds—around 800 miles per hour—sending plumes of its innards into space. Illustration of the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor concept. These robots are being tested to go to Saturn's moon EnceladusIt is hoped that an EELS will be a good candidate to explore Enceladus due to its ability to navigate all kinds of terrain, including deep crevasses and underground oceans.

NASA engineers have therefore designed the EELS to be able to sense its own environment using cameras and lidar—a form of laser-based sonar that builds up 3D maps of an environment—and travel according to the risks it has determined,

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