--- description: Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have built a robot that will be able to chart icy waters in outer space title: NASA Rover Explores the Underbelly of Frozen Waters 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 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [space travel](/tag/space-travel/) ## space travel Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # NASA's New Rover May Soon Explore Frozen Waters in Outer Space by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 25, 2014 6:28 AM CUT  National Geographic/Youtube by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 25, 2014 6:28 AM CUT 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/ "undefined") 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 "undefined") 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"}}]}] ```