New laser drill could help scientists explore ice-covered worlds like Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

这款新型激光钻探设备，有望帮助科学家探测木星的海洋卫星木卫二，以及其他被冰雪覆盖的天体。

A new laser concept could revolutionize how we explore the frozen worlds of our solar system.

这款全新的激光技术概念，有望颠覆我们探索木卫二、土卫二等太阳系冰冻世界的核心模式。

When scientists dream of exploring the hidden oceans beneath the icy crusts of moons like Jupiter's Europa or Saturn's Enceladus — or other icy regions, such as permanently shadowed lunar craters or ice-bearing soils near the Martian poles — one major problem stands in the way: drilling through the ice.

当科学家们憧憬着探索木星的木卫二、土星的土卫二等卫星冰壳之下的隐藏海洋，或是其他冰封区域 —— 例如月球上的永久阴影陨石坑、火星两极附近的含冰土壤时，一个核心难题横亘在前：如何钻透厚厚的冰层。

Traditional drills and melting probes are heavy, complex and consume vast amounts of power. Now, researchers at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at Technische Universität Dresden in Germany have developed a promising new solution — a laser-based ice drill that can bore deep, narrow channels into ice while keeping both mass and energy requirements low.

传统钻探设备与融冰探测器不仅体积笨重、结构复杂，还耗费极大功率。如今，德国德累斯顿工业大学航空航天工程研究所的研究人员研发出了一种极具应用前景的全新解决方案 —— 一款激光冰层钻机。该设备能在冰层中钻出深邃且狭窄的通道，同时始终维持较低的质量与能耗需求。

"We've created a laser drill that enables deep, narrow and energy-efficient access to ice without increasing instrument mass — something mechanical drills and melting probes cannot achieve," Martin Koßagk, lead author of the study, told Space.com in an email.

该研究的牵头研究者马丁・科萨格克在给《太空网》的一封电子邮件中表示：“我们研发出了一款激光冰层钻机，它能以纵深、狭窄且节能的方式穿透冰层，且无需增加仪器自身质量 —— 这是机械钻探设备与融冰探测器都难以实现的技术突破。”

Mechanical drills become heavier with depth as they extend rods downward, and melting probes rely on long, power-hungry cables. The laser drill sidesteps both problems by keeping all instruments at the surface. This tech sends a concentrated beam into the ice, vaporizing it rather than melting it — a process known as sublimation.

机械钻探设备需向下延伸钻杆，钻探深度越大，整体重量便随之增加；而融冰探测器则依赖冗长且高耗能的供电电缆。这款激光冰层钻机通过将所有仪器组件部署于地表，成功规避了这两大弊端。其核心技术原理是向冰层发射聚焦激光束，使冰体直接升华为气态而非先熔化为液态 —— 这一物理过程被称为 “升华”。深度优化解析

The resulting vapor escapes upward through a narrow borehole just wide enough for gas and dust samples to be collected. Instruments on the surface can then analyze these samples for chemical composition and density, providing valuable clues about the thermal properties and formation history of the cosmic body being explored.

激光作用产生的气态物质（升华产物）会通过狭窄钻孔向上逸出，该钻孔的孔径恰好能满足气体与尘埃样本的采集需求。部署于地表的分析仪器可对这些样本的化学成分与密度进行检测，进而为揭示目标天体的热物理特性及形成演化历史提供关键线索。

While lasers aren't the most energy-efficient tools, the beam vaporizes a mere pinhole of ice, meaning the drill uses far less total power than electric heaters. It also works faster in dust-rich layers that slow traditional melting probes, allowing it to bore much deeper without added mass or energy.

尽管激光并非能效最优的工具，但该激光钻发射的光束每次仅能使针孔大小的冰体发生升华，这意味着其总能耗远低于传统电热融冰装置。此外，在富含尘埃的冰层中，传统融冰探测器的作业效率会大幅下降，而这款激光钻却能保持较高作业速度，进而无需额外增加设备质量与能耗，就能实现更深层的冰层钻探。

Therefore, a laser-based instrument "makes subsurface exploration of icy moons more realistic, allowing high-resolution analysis of ice composition and density, improving models of heat transport and ocean depth on bodies like Europa and Enceladus, and supporting studies of crust formation," Koßagk said. "On the moon or Mars, the laser drill can also extract subsurface material such as dust from ice-bearing craters or soils, enabling geological reconstruction beyond the surface layers."

科萨格克表示，这款激光探测设备 “让冰卫星的次表层探测更具可行性 —— 不仅能对冰层成分与密度开展高分辨率分析，完善木卫二、土卫二等天体的热传导模型与冰下海洋深度估算模型，还能为地壳形成机制研究提供关键支撑。” 他进一步指出：“在月球或火星上，该激光钻机还可从含冰陨石坑或含冰土壤中提取尘埃等次表层物质，从而突破表层限制，实现对目标天体的地质演化过程重建。”

The team's laser drill concept operates at roughly 150 watts (W), with a projected mass of about 9 pounds (4 kilograms), remaining constant regardless of depth — whether 33 feet (10 meters) or 6 miles (10 kilometers). However, Koßagk noted that a mass spectrometer for analyzing the gas and instruments for dust separation and analysis would increase the power requirement and mass.

该团队研发的这款激光钻机方案，工作功率约为 150 瓦，预计质量达 9 磅（合 4 千克）。无论钻探深度是 33 英尺（10 米）还是 6 英里（10 公里），其自身质量始终保持恒定。不过科萨格克也指出，若要搭载用于气体分析的质谱仪，以及粉尘分离与分析相关设备，整套系统的能耗与总质量均会相应增加。

Early tests show promise. The prototype drilled through ice samples about 8 inches (20 centimeters) long under vacuum and cryogenic conditions during laboratory experiments, and at greater depths in field tests in the Alps and Arctic, reaching depths of more than a meter in snow. In tests with 20 watts of laser power, the system reached drilling speeds near 1 meter per hour, and up to 3 meters per hour in loose or dusty ice.

早期测试结果颇具应用前景。这款原型机在实验室环境下，成功模拟真空与低温工况，钻透了长度约 8 英寸（20 厘米）的冰体样本；在阿尔卑斯山及北极地区开展的野外测试中，其钻探深度进一步提升 —— 在积雪层中实现了超 1 米的钻进深度。测试数据显示，当激光功率为 20 瓦时，该系统的钻探速度接近每小时 1 米；而在松散或富含粉尘的冰层中，钻探速度最高可达每小时 3 米。

A laser-based concept is not without limitations. In stone or layers of dust in which there is no ice that could be vaporized, the drilling process would be stopped. And, in those cases, a new borehole would need to be drilled from the surface that bypasses the obstacle.

这款激光钻探方案并非毫无局限。若钻探过程中遇到岩石层，或钻入不含可升华冰体的纯粉尘层，钻探作业将被迫中止。在此类情况下，需从地表重新钻孔，以避开该障碍物。

"It is therefore important to operate the laser drill in conjunction with other measuring instruments," Koßagk told Space.com. "Radar instruments could look into the ice and locate larger obstacles, which the laser drill could then drill past."

科萨格克在接受《太空网》采访时表示：“因此，将这款激光钻机与其他探测设备协同工作至关重要。雷达探测仪可穿透冰层进行探测，精准定位较大障碍物，随后激光钻机便能绕开这些障碍继续钻探。”

Water-filled crevasses would also pose a challenge. When one is drilled into, the laser drill would have to pump out water as it flows in before it could continue to drill deeper. However, drilling into these areas could help to identify the chemistry of potential habitats for past or present microbial life. If bacteria ever existed, their remains might be detectable in the samples collected from a laser-drilled borehole.

含水裂缝同样会构成技术挑战。若钻探过程中钻入此类裂缝，激光钻机需在水流涌入时及时将水排出，方可继续向深层钻进。不过，针对这些区域的钻探也具备重要科研价值 —— 有助于分析可能存在过或现存微生物生命的潜在栖息地的化学特征。倘若曾经存在过细菌等微生物，其残留物或许能在激光钻机钻出的钻孔所采集的样本中被检测到。

To make this type of laser drill possible, next steps would be miniaturizing the system, developing a dust-separation unit and completing space-qualification tests. A compact payload version could one day ride aboard a lander to an icy moon, bringing scientists closer to decoding the secrets frozen beneath alien surfaces, Koßagk said.

要推动这款激光钻机走向实际应用，后续需重点开展三项工作：一是实现系统小型化集成，二是研发粉尘分离装置，三是完成太空级资质认证测试。科萨格克表示，未来这款紧凑型载荷版本有望搭载着陆器送往冰卫星，助力科学家进一步揭开外星天体冰封表层之下的未知奥秘。

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the same tool could even help predict avalanches. Field tests in cooperation with the Austrian Research Centre for Forests and Department of Natural Hazards in the Alps and the Arctic showed that the laser drill can measure snow density without digging a pit — and, mounted on a drone, it could collect data from dangerous slopes where humans can't safely go, Koßagk said.

科萨格克表示，这款设备在地球场景中同样具备应用价值 —— 甚至可助力雪崩预警。该团队与奥地利森林研究中心、阿尔卑斯山及北极地区自然灾害部门合作开展的野外测试显示，这款激光钻机无需挖掘雪坑就能精准测量积雪密度；若将其搭载于无人机，还能前往人类无法安全抵达的高危斜坡采集数据。

Whether on Earth or in deep space, the goal is the same: to look beneath the surface and understand what's hidden in the ice.

无论在地球之上，还是深入深空之中，这项技术的核心目标始终如一：穿透表层屏障，探寻冰封之下的未知真相。

The team's initial findings were published Sept. 8 in the journal Acta Astronautica.

该团队的初步研究成果于 9 月 8 日发表在《宇航学报》（Acta Astronautica）期刊上。