18. May 2026 | Press releases:

Space research beneath the ice TU Braunschweig tested an autonomous underwater vehicle in northern Sweden

Technische Universität Braunschweig tested an autonomous underwater vehicle in northern Sweden as part of the TRIPLE initiative (Technologies for Rapid Ice Penetration and Subglacial Lake Exploration). The field tests are in preparation for a major testing campaign in Antarctica at the end of 2026. The aim of the project is to develop all the necessary technologies for exploring icy moons such as Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Exploring waters beneath the ice autonomously: this is precisely what the compact vehicle (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, AUV) – which is being developed as a central component of the TRIPLE project – is designed to do. To achieve this, the functionalities of the so-called nanoAUV in the areas of control, navigation, path planning and environmental perception must be improved, amongst other things. These software components are being developed in the TRIPLE-GNC (Guidance, Navigation & Control) sub-project with the participation of TU Braunschweig at the Institute of Flight Guidance (IFF).

A key objective of the test campaign in March 2026 was to verify the interaction between hardware and software under realistic operational conditions. The findings are intended to ensure that all TRIPLE components work together reliably for the planned overall system demonstration in Antarctica.

The TRIPLE project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), is characterised by its extremely high technical demands: in addition to the actual exploration of subglacial waters using nanoAUVs, the mission concept also includes melting through the ice sheet and analysing the water samples collected. Due to the close connection to space technology, extensive, time-consuming review and qualification processes in accordance with space standards must also be completed.

The field test in March 2026 took place at Lake Torneträsk at the Abisko Scientific Research Station. The primary objective was to evaluate navigation and communication under ice. As electromagnetic waves are strongly attenuated in water, acoustic sensors were used for this purpose. However, reflections and multipath propagation can occur under ice, which impair the navigation solution. The tests were intended to clarify how significant these effects are in practice and whether the existing navigation algorithms are sufficiently robust or need to be further developed.

Through its Institute of Flight Control, TU Braunschweig contributes significant expertise to the TRIPLE-GNC sub-project. Specifically, a

  • fault-tolerant attitude estimator, which uses an algorithm to determine a vehicle’s position in space even if individual sensors fail,
  • as well as an FDIR (Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery) module. Such a module detects faults, locates their cause and restores safe operation. In the event of failures in the navigation sensor system, these software components form an essential fallback mechanism by providing fundamental status information that enables the vehicle to return safely to the melt probe. This is of particular importance, as the vehicle cannot surface from beneath the ice in the event of a fault.

In the long term, the TRIPLE project aims at an extraterrestrial mission. At the same time, the technologies developed enable, for the first time, the systematic exploration of subglacial waters on Earth. These have so far been insufficiently researched, as they are extremely difficult to access.

Project details

Following a Phase 0 study in 2018, the TRIPLE project was launched in 2020 and is currently in its second phase, which is expected to run until mid-2027. The following institutions are involved: German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Institute of Physics B (RWTH Aachen University), MARUM (Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen), Department of Physics (University of Wuppertal), GSI – Gesellschaft für Systementwicklung und Instrumentierung mbH, DSI Aerospace GmbH, Chair of High-Frequency Technology (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), Institute of Control Engineering (RWTH Aachen University), HAW Hamburg, Institute of Bioengineering (FA Aachen), Chair of Methods of Model-Based Development in Computer-Aided Engineering (RWTH Aachen University), Cognitive Neuroinformatics (University of Bremen), GloMic GmbH, Robotics Innovation Centre (German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence), Institute of Flight Control (TU Braunschweig), TriOS GmbH and EvoLogics GmbH.