3 ms·

> Maybe not so out of reach after all? Leave a "base station" on the surface at one end of the fibre, and at the other end another "subsurface station" that has

> Maybe not so out of reach after all? Leave a "base station" on the surface at one end of the fibre, and at the other end another "subsurface station" that has a ROV-style tethered- "swimmer" I think your main issue will be that the hole freezes over behind you, meaning you'll need some serious power to pull the fiber through 20 km worth of ice. You can of course pull the fiber in a sleeve of some kind, if you can keep water out of it, and if you can't there's really not much you can do about it. I would think the best option would be a somewhat high power radio transmitter/receiver.

exitb 2y ago
You'd need to take the cable spool down the hole, so the unspooled part above is already in place.
mrshadowgoose 2y ago
Spool goes on the descending module. > would think the best option would be a somewhat high power radio transmitter/receiver. If you can figure this one out, the militaries of the world would love to have a chat with you. Water/ice is ridiculously good at attenuating EM. It's a huge issue with submarine communications.
- nick238 2y ago
  Wire-guided torpedos[1] and missiles[2] are fairly common, and the wire pays out from the projectile-side so it's not progressively dragging more and more. The more recent DM2A4 Seehecht torpedo[3] has a fiber-optic link, probably to reduce EM emissions or the detectability of a km's-long wire/antenna, despite being underwater. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_48_torpedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_48_torpedo [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire-guided_missile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire-guided_missile [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM2A4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM2A4
zardo 2y ago
> I think your main issue will be that the hole freezes over behind you. Getting an ice plug started is a problem, you need meltwater to get fast heat transfer from the melt-head to the ice, but you can't have liquid water at Europa surface pressure.

exitb 2y ago

You'd need to take the cable spool down the hole, so the unspooled part above is already in place.

mrshadowgoose 2y ago

Spool goes on the descending module. > would think the best option would be a somewhat high power radio transmitter/receiver. If you can figure this one out, the militaries of the world would love to have a chat with you. Water/ice is ridiculously good at attenuating EM. It's a huge issue with submarine communications.

nick238 2y ago
Wire-guided torpedos[1] and missiles[2] are fairly common, and the wire pays out from the projectile-side so it's not progressively dragging more and more. The more recent DM2A4 Seehecht torpedo[3] has a fiber-optic link, probably to reduce EM emissions or the detectability of a km's-long wire/antenna, despite being underwater. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_48_torpedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_48_torpedo [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire-guided_missile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire-guided_missile [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM2A4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DM2A4

zardo 2y ago

> I think your main issue will be that the hole freezes over behind you. Getting an ice plug started is a problem, you need meltwater to get fast heat transfer from the melt-head to the ice, but you can't have liquid water at Europa surface pressure.