NASA recently unveiled a prototype for an innovative mission concept called SWIM (Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers).

NASA recently unveiled a prototype for an innovative mission concept called SWIM (Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers). Developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, this prototype demonstrates the feasibility of deploying a swarm of cellphone-sized, self-propelled robots to explore the icy waters of celestial bodies like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus.

The SWIM concept envisions these miniature robots navigating beneath thick ice layers to independently study subsurface oceans, advancing our understanding of alien water worlds and potentially uncovering signs of extraterrestrial life.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech