NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) (1)

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) (2)

Not soldNASA/JPL research prototype.

Not for sale (research)Not programmableNASA JPLScrew propulsionAutonomousIcy moons

Not soldShipping: Not sold. A NASA research prototype, not for sale.

Remote control: Not possible. JPL research system with no public interface.

JPL EELS ↗Wikipedia ↗

Overview

JPL's snake-like concept for descending the geyser vents of Saturn's moon Enceladus and exploring lunar lava tubes, Martian polar caps and terrestrial ice sheets. Prototypes were tested on an ice rink in 2022, on the Athabasca Glacier in Alberta in 2022–2023 and in snow at a California ski resort in 2023. JPL lists the project as in development.

Specifications

Category	Crawlers, snakes & climbers · Snake robots
Released	2023
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	No programmability
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Camera, Depth camera, Lidar
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Unknown
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	~4.4 m long, ~100 kg (EELS 1.0, 10 segments)
Locomotion	Independently actuated counter-rotating screws on every segment for propulsion and grip; many-DoF body reshapes to fit terrain; screws double as propellers underwater
Compute	Onboard risk-aware autonomy software (hardware not published)
Camera	Four stereo camera pairs
Sensors	Lidar; no science instruments on the 1.0 prototype
Runtime	Tethered power and data
Speed	Not published
SDK	None public