Leiden Measurement Technology is partnering with Stone Aerospace on its new ARCHIMEDES (A Really Cool High Impact Method for Exploring Down into Europan Subsurface) project, an entirely novel ice-penetrating technology that uses laser light carried by an optical fiber tether. Sponsored by NASA and led by Stone Aerospace, the ARCHIMEDES project aims to provide sub-surface access for a Europa lander and to co-transport fiber instruments for the detection of biomarkers in the ice. For this project LMT will design, build and test a novel downhole optical instrument suite that will detect important molecular targets aboard the ARCHIMEDES vehicle. The instrument will target key molecules important for life-detection and habitability studies on icy worlds. Funded by NASA's (Concepts for Ocean Worlds Life Detection Technology) COLDTech program, ARCHIMEDES may provide future missions with access to the liquid water underneath Europa’s crust and facilitate the search for life signatures within it.
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