Yes, that should work nicely. Let's see... drop grenade on ice. Wait 30-45
minutes. Drop grenade #2 down the hole. Wait a few minutes before it gets to
the bottom. Wait another 30-45 minutes. Drop grenade #3... this might take a
little while. Now we need to figure out how to get down the 10-mile shaft.
Ah, deposit copper oxide down shaft just in case. Then figure out how to get
down. Ice skates with brakes. I think we have a plan. Good idea. Wish I'd
thought of it.
We are not going 10 miles, or 1 mile, or 1 kilometer. Just 500'. That's all. If thermite, or phosphorous, or some other chemical combination does the trick, so be it. I see no reason why we can't use a chemical reactant to heat a little water, and use that water to provide the drill.
Respooling along a wire won't work. For one thing, we don't need a video transmission. We're not out to take pictures of the bottom of an ice field. Refocus. We're just trying to demonstrate that 1) a small torpedo shaped model can slowly navigate through an ice field (with incrementally small changes in heading). It is not going to be fast, or filled with bells and whistles. It is simply a prototype, semi-autonomous ice submersible, radio controlled.
2) the only payload on this will be 3-5 transponders. These may be simple, off-the-shelf animal transponders, such as are attached to wildlife, or if these won't work, then something that will generate a low frequency noise, to take advantage of the sonic transmission capacities of solid ice. Once again, it doesn't matter if they're not Europa proof. They simply have to transpond a readable signal through a few hundred feet of terrestial ice. The signal need be nothing more than sufficient to get a rough fix on where the transponder is located. That's all.
NASA, or the Russians, or ESA, can certainly provide a corvette to trump our model-T. That's not the point. Of course, NASA gets to use radioisotopes, and has million dollar transponders. We don't. We have off-the-shelf parts.
Let's keep this project within the realm of the possible, and payable. If something like what we are proposing actually gets done, it can be upgraded by more financed groups later. The point is to actually do something now. Think 'X-Prize' on a glacier.
-- John Harlow Byrne
