US team develops robotic lake lander for planetary exploration

Dubbed TEX II, the vehicle could be used to explore the lakes of liquid hydrocarbon known to exist on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

TEX II is said to be highly modular and portable and was designed as a catamaran for enhanced stability, and to allow the various onboard sensors easy access to the surface and subsurface of the water, or other liquid, on which it is deployed.

It weighs about 100 pounds and its central raised deck can carry a 150-pound payload of computers, batteries and sensors. The twin hulls are 6ft long and set about 5ft apart.

Air-propellers mounted at the back of each hull are powered by electric motors that can switch rotational direction to drive TEX II backward or forward, which makes the craft highly agile.

The propellers are set as far apart as possible so they deliver maximum torque to the chassis during turning.

The shallow draft of the fortified Styrofoam hulls decreases perturbation in the water around TEX II, which minimises interference with subsurface telemetry from the onboard sensors. The entire chassis and sensor deck can be decoupled from the catamaran hulls and attached to an alternative propulsion system.