back to article NASA tests bot built to slither across, and beneath, alien worlds' ice

The latest in high-concept automated space exploration tech from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory looks to have been screwed up and twisted – by design. JPL's Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, aka EELS, is an autonomous rover built by connecting articulated segments outfitted with corkscrews that give it the ability to "slither …

  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Terminator

    Slither of the machines?

    I, for one, etc...

    1. Nik 2
      Coat

      Re: Slither of the machines?

      Robot underlords?

  2. nematoad Silver badge
    Pint

    Well done.

    Have a beer on my for the correct use of the word slither.

    Oh, by the way, the robot looks pretty amazing as well, but that doesn't surprise me. NASA has some amazingly talented engineers.

    1. david willis

      Re: Well done.

      yup!

      https://www.engadget.com/2019-12-16-fartier-glitter-bomb-2-feat-macaulay-culkin.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMnP_y_fb5MIpitHLpxePFuiH84vrjnX-y4GhowSonCA0wRTQy1OlNEf_RJNg-ZVyqO9bUFKd1DEjTqIvSa7v6e0NeXXb1Eb5PJO_M3k3QvNeDaUrn2TzjwipduCtDvpxjLn-GMykf1BEdBOUIo416W94NsA0Yh7g4fJH_9npuvZ

  3. claimed

    Avoid LOS

    Lots of testing in glaciers and mountains is the only way. “Get out of that one!”

  4. Francis Boyle

    Looks

    How shall I put this, phallic. I wonder how long before there's porn of this. Oh, wait! There already is, in Japan.

    (Given that these prototypes all seem to be tethered, I'm forced assume that the production models will have two spheres at the rear. To house the batteries, of course.)

  5. WereWoof
    Mushroom

    Doomed

    “ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA.

    ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.

    USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”

    Arthur C Clarke,

  6. LoPath
    Mushroom

    Tremors!

    Where is Kevin Bacon when you need him??

  7. Tim Cockburn

    Typical Nasa

    Spend almost all your money on futuristic research into how to behave when you get somewhere. Much easier than actually concentrating on how to arrive in the first place. Oh you can spend the rest in going somewhere you've been before.

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