Unlike rover vehicles, EELS could explore these types of scenarios by crawling through crevices and swimming through water (Photo: Nasa/JPL-CalTech/SWNS)

robot Lines can help scientists search for extraterrestrial life in space.

The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) system is being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The elongated robot would slide along its body over alien terrain thanks to spinning wheels.

The target is the ventilation systems on Enceladus, Saturn’s small icy moon. However, EELS can be used on Earth to navigate difficult environments.

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Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggests that Enceladus has a liquid ocean beneath its icy crust. The plumes erupting from the surface are direct conduits to liquid water, making it possibly the easiest route to a habitable liquid ocean.

Unlike rover vehicles, EELS could study these types of scenarios by crawling through crevices and swimming through water.

The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) system is being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (Photo: Nasa/JPL-CalTech/SWNS)

The system uses “premium rotary propulsion units” that act as rails, grab mechanisms and underwater propeller units, allowing the robot to access a plume of smoke and follow it to the ocean source.

project leader Dr Matthew Robinson says the goal is a platform that can be explored anywhere, even in lava tubes on the moon.

The system’s adaptability opens up other targets, such as Mars’ polar caps and descending cracks in Earth’s ice sheets.

“Current efforts include collaborating with Earth scientists to identify high-quality, high-performance terrestrial science studies that will also demonstrate the capabilities of EELS in a planetary analog environment,” explained JPL.

Tests have been conducted at Canada’s Athabasca Glacier and Mount Meager Volcano.

THIS PHOTO: Illustration of the EELS system on Saturn's moon Enceladus. --- SEE SWNS STORY SWNArobotsnake --- Scientists plan to send a robotsnake in search of aliens. The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) system is being developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The elongated robot would slide along its body over alien terrain thanks to spinning wheels. The target is the ventilation systems on Enceladus, Saturn's small icy moon. However, EELS can be used on Earth to navigate difficult environments.

Image of the EELS system on Saturn’s moon Enceladus (Photo: Nasa/JPL-CalTech/SWNS)

“While the EELS concept was originally inspired by the vents on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, its versatility and machine intelligence could eventually be used to explore many unvisited planetary targets and Earth,” said JPL spokeswoman Melissa Pamer.

“It’s a versatile, very intelligent and super awesome snake robot,” says Dr. Hiro Ono, senior researcher at JPL. “What could be better than discovering potential life? To know that we are not alone.”

Observations from NASA’s Cassini mission, which ended in 2017, show that the small moon contains an ice-covered ocean that bursts into space and forms plumes that contain most of the basic ingredients for life.

Scientists believed that Enceladus had a potentially habitable subsurface water ocean that contained the “building blocks of life,” including organic and inorganic carbon, ammonia, and possibly hydrogen sulfide.