WE PROPOSE A DEEP SUBSURFACE ACCESS VEHICLE SYSTEM FOR EUROPA. OUR CONCEPT IS A PLATFORM THAT WOULD ENABLE ACCESS TO A SUBSURFACE WATER VOLUME WITHIN 5 KM OF THE SURFACE BUT CAPABLE OF DEEPER PENETRATION TO 15KM. WE ENVISION A 3 STAGE MISSION WITH A SURFACE STATION SELF-DRILLING VEHICLE WITH A BREAKABLE MECHANICAL/DATA TETHER THAT DEPLOYS ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATIONS STATIONS IN THE ICE AS IT DESCENDS AND A BASE STATION THAT REMAINS IN THE ICE TO RELAY COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MOBILE VEHICLE PLATFORM TO THE SURFACE STATION. WE WILL LEVERAGE OUR EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING ICEFIN A 2 KM (ON EARTH) DEPTH-RATED VEHICLE 9 IN DIAMETER TAILORED TO THROUGH-ICE EXPLORATION AS WELL AS THE NEW DEEP OCEAN ROBOTIC ASTROBIOLOGIST (DORA) VEHICLE UNDER DEVELOPMENT FOR DEEP HYPERSALINE ANOXIC BASINS THROUGH THE NASA ASTROBIOLOGY PROGRAM. ICEFIN IS AN ~TRL 5 CONCEPT BUILT AND TESTED IN SUB-FREEZING AND UNDERWATER CONDITIONS IN ANTARCTICA. DORA IS TRL 2 CONCEPT SYSTEM FOLLOWING ICEFIN DESIGNED TO DEAL WITH HEAVILY CORROSIVE HIGH PRESSURE ENVIRONMENTS. PART OF OUR STUDY WILL BE TO EVALUATE MIGRATING THE CURRENT VEHICLE HARDWARE TO FLIGHT-TESTED OR MORE FLIGHT-APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION. THIS ACTIVITY WILL WORK TO ACCOMPLISH THREE MAIN TASKS: 1-ADAPT THE CURRENT ICEFIN NOSE MODULE TO IMPLEMENT A HYBRID THERMO-MECHANICAL DRILL FOR ICE PENETRATION AND INTERFACE BETWEEN THE VEHICLE AND NOSE CONE (WHICH WOULD CONTAIN THE FIRST RTG). CURRENTLY ICEFIN HAS A FORWARD MODULE DESIGNED FOR OBSTACLE AWARENESS AND SENSING BUT A DESIGN IS NEEDED TO COUPLE THIS MODULE WITH OUR TRL 3 LEVEL ICE CORING SYSTEM (FUNDED UNDER PSTAR) TO ACHIEVE A MECHANICAL DRILL SYSTEM THAT COULD BE HEATED WITH WASTE HEAT FROM THE RTG. 2-ADAPT THE ALREADY PROVEN ICEFIN VEHICLE FOR THROUGH-ICE OPERATIONS BY ADAPTING THE VEHICLE FROM A FLOODED ARCHITECTURE TO A FULLY ENCAPSULATED MONOLITHIC BODY AND ADAPT INLET FLOW TO DELIVER WATER TO THE VEHICLE SCIENCE SENSORS. 3-DEVELOP THE BASE STATION DETACHABLE MODULE FOR THE REAR OF THE SYSTEM THAT WOULD ACT AS A CHARGING BASE AND COMMUNICATIONS CENTER FOR THE MOBILE PLATFORM (WHICH WOULD CONTAIN THE SECOND RTG). 4-PROVE A CONCEPT THROUGH MODELING AND TESTING FOR ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE ICE FROM ACOUSTIC PUCKS DEPLOYED BEHIND THE VEHICLE TO RELAY INFORMATION TO THE SURFACE STATION. EXISTING USBL RADAR AND ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY WILL BE FUSED WITH OUR EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING THROUGH AND UNDER ICE INSTRUMENTATION. DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLANS FOR THE VEHICLE SYSTEM WE WILL IDENTIFY PROMISING TECHNOLOGIES AS WELL AS TECHNICAL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH EACH IN ORDER TO VALIDATE OUR MATERIALS LIST AND INTEGRATION PLAN. AT THE END OF THIS PROPOSED WORK WE WILL EMERGE WITH TRL-4 READY REALISTIC SUBSURFACE ACCESS DRILL DESIGN WITH TESTED MECHANICAL DRILLING CAPABILITY IN ICE LEVERAGING OUR PSTAR EXPERIENCE AND FIELD PROGRAM AND TRL-4 ICE COMMUNICATION PUCKS. WE WILL ACHIEVE A MODEL BASE STATION MODULE AT TRL 5 POWERED BY BATTERIES AS AN ANALOG FOR THE EVENTUAL RTG IMPLEMENTATION. WE WILL ALSO COMPLETE A BILL OF MATERIALS AND DESIGN ADAPTATIONS TO MIGRATE ICEFIN TO A FLIGHT-READY TRL 6 VEHICLE SYSTEM INCLUDING INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE SENSORS ADAPTED FOR EUROPA CONDITIONS. AS WITH OUR PREVIOUS PROGRAMS THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING TEAMS WILL BE INTEGRATED SO THAT INFORMATION CRITICAL TO SCIENCE AND DESIGN CAN FLOW THROUGH THE TEAM. OUR TEAM CONSISTS OF EUROPA AND CRYOSPHERE SCIENTISTS (SCHMIDT WALKER BOWMAN PURKEY) WHO ARE EXPERTS IN THE PHYSICAL CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS OF THE EARTH AND EUROPA ENGINEERS WITH PAST EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING THE MECHANICAL (MEISTER) ELECTRICAL (DICHEK) AND CONTROLS (SPEARS) FOR THE ICEFIN DORA CORING SYSTEM AND OTHER VEHICLES AND INSTRUMENTATION (MULLEN). IN ADDITION OUR STUDENT TEAM (RAMEY HURWITZ LAWRENCE BRYSON) HAVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING INTEGRATING AND DEPLOYING AUV SYSTEMS IN THE OCEAN AND BELOW ICE IN ANTARCTICA.