Cryobot

A Cryobot is a probe that melts through ice through which to explore this and underlying media.

The artificial word Cryobot consists of the words Kryos (Greek: the Cold ) and robots (derived tschech.: work ) together and thus means roughly Eisroboter or Eissonde.

Kryobots exist so far only in theoretical considerations and as isolated first prototypes. So far, these prototypes reach only a few tens of meters deep. Planned areas of application are mainly exploring the ice depths and underlying waters of the Arctic and Antarctic as well as in the more distant future, the exploration of Mars and the icy moons of the outer solar system. This is particularly thinking of the study of Jupiter 's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, under the ice sheet liquid salt water can be suspected as potential habitats of extraterrestrial life.

The original Cryobot is the so-called Philberth probe, invented by the German physicist Karl Philberth and for the first time in the 1960s at the International glaciological expedition to Greenland ( EGIG ) was demonstrated with a drilling depth of over 1000m.