NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on a robotics project to help gather data from under the Antarctic ice.

The current project is called IceNode and aims to deploy a fleet of autonomous robots that are capable of diving deep beneath the Antarctic ice shelves to gather valuable scientific data.

The robots should provide insight into global warming and its effects on the ice sheets, which, if they melt, could cause a massive climate disaster across the planet, according to IceNode science lead and JPL climate scientist Ian Fenty:

Weve been pondering how to surmount these technological and logistical challenges for years, and we think weve found a way. The goal is getting data directly at the ice-ocean melting interface, beneath the ice shelf.

While IceNode’s Principal Investigator and JPL robotics engineer Paul Glick added:

These robots are a platform to bring science instruments to the hardest-to-reach locations on Earth. Its meant to be a safe, comparatively low-cost solution to a difficult problem.  Were happy with the progress. The hope is to continue developing prototypes, get them back up to the Arctic for future tests below the sea ice, and eventually see the full fleet deployed underneath Antarctic ice shelves. This is valuable data that scientists need. Anything that gets us closer to accomplishing that goal is exciting.

You can find a video of the JPL IceNode test below.