Impossible Sensing, a space exploration company, has launched a high-tech laser laboratory into the deep waters surrounding Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll. The In situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research (InVADER) mission aims to advance technologies originally developed to explore ocean worlds like Europa and Enceladus to characterise the seabed here on Earth. InVADER’s instruments, known as the Laser Divebot, collect high-fidelity compositional data, including rocks, sediments, water column and biological samples. The Laser Divebot uses laser spectroscopy to collect data without disturbing the ocean environment. The technology aims to advance in situ sensing, ultimately removing the need to collect physical samples as the first measure-while-in-motion autonomous solution.
