--- title: NASA Rover Explores the Underbelly of Frozen Waters description: Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have built a robot that will be able to chart icy waters in outer space canonical: https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/ author: Melissa Hellmann article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-25T06:28:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:36:31.203Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Rover Explores the Underbelly of Frozen Waters og:description: Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have built a robot that will be able to chart icy waters in outer space og:url: https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt292f1ab9188a9422/69869924cd684867b3095634/int_rover_tech_0625.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: int_rover_tech_0625 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Rover Explores the Underbelly of Frozen Waters twitter:description: Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have built a robot that will be able to chart icy waters in outer space twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt292f1ab9188a9422/69869924cd684867b3095634/int_rover_tech_0625.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA's New Rover May Soon Explore Frozen Waters in Outer Space by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Jun 25, 2014 6:28 AM UTC  National Geographic/Youtube by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Jun 25, 2014 6:28 AM UTC Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have finally built a robot that will be able to chart the icy waters found in outer space — like on Jupiter’s moon Europa — going where no other space robot has gone before. The Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration (BRUIE) is [operated](http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/24/nasa-testing-bruie-rover/) through satellite link and designed to cling onto the underside of ice with metal tires, transmitting measurements back to scientists and assessing whether the waters host other life-forms. Scientists have already built rovers that can withstand the dry terrain of the Earth’s moon and Mars, but this is the first such machine built to explore extraterrestrial aquatic bodies. BRUIE is currently being tested in frozen Alaska lakes, but engineers hope that the robot will one day be flown to Europa. NASA maintains that although the rover is prototyping exploration on other celestial bodies, the test runs in Alaska are also allowing scientists to gain a better understanding of Earth’s frozen waters — at present, 95% of Earth’s oceans [remain](http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html) unchartered. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/"},"headline":"NASA's New Rover May Soon Explore Frozen Waters in Outer Space","datePublished":"2014-06-25T06:28:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:36:31.203Z","description":"A new space rover prototype is being developed for underwater exploration in space, but in the meantime it is helping scientists gain a better understanding of Earth's seas","url":"https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/","keywords":["space travel","Space","NASA","europe","jupiter","Robot","Sea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt292f1ab9188a9422/69869924cd684867b3095634/int_rover_tech_0625.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Hellmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt292f1ab9188a9422/69869924cd684867b3095634/int_rover_tech_0625.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"int_rover_tech_0625","caption":"","creditText":"National Geographic/Youtube","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space-travel/","name":"space travel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2919771/nasas-new-rover-may-soon-explore-frozen-waters-in-outer-space/","name":"NASA's New Rover May Soon Explore Frozen Waters in Outer Space"}}]}] ```