The explorationExploration of icy environments in the solar system, such as the poles of MarsMars and theOcean worlds icy moonsIcy moons (a.k.a. ocean worlds), is a key aspect for understanding their astrobiological potential as well as for extraterrestrial resource inspection. On these worlds, ice melting probesIce melting probe are considered to be well suited for the robotic clean execution of such missions. In this chapter, we describe ice melting probes and their applications, the physics of ice melting and how the melting behavior can be modeled and simulated numerically, the challenges for ice melting, and the required key technologies to deal with those challenges. We also give an overview of existing ice melting probesIce melting probe and report some results and lessons learned from laboratory and field tests.


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    In situ analysis of Europa ices by short-range melting probes

    Biele, J. / Ulamec, S. / Hilchenbach, M. et al. | Elsevier | 2010



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