A small engineering firm based in Austin, Texas, has some big ideas about the exploration of space. Better yet, Bill Stone is on the way to turning those ideas into reality.
Stone Aerospace is currently conducting field tests of a robot that explores watery depths on its own, with no directions from humans after it's deployed. Last month, the robot successfully explored deep sinkholes in Mexico completely on its own A similar robot is scheduled to explore an ice covered lake in Antarctica in December, 2008. That mission will be a sort of dress rehearsal for Stone's ultimate goal-- exploring the ocean under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa. If Stone gets his wish for a 2015 launch of that mission, we could know if there is life in Europa's ocean by 2019.
That's about the time NASA hopes to start building a base on Earth's moon, and Stone Aerospace intends to be a part of that, as well. The firm is lookin5 at building a robot capable of drilling several meters into the Moon in search of water ice. If water is found, the firm's energy company would then sell the water to NASA, for use at the base, or split water molecules into their components, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen, when used correctly, make an extremely useful rocket fuel. Lunar ice could power craft traveling throughout the Earth-Moon system and become the first export of a young lunar economy.
A lot of work remains before Bill Stone reaches his goals in space, but they are certainly worthy of the effort.
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