Carolyn Parcheta has been intrigued by volcanoes since sixth grade when she watched a scientist take a sample of lava on a science TV show.
"I said to myself, I'm going to do that some day," Parcheta told NASA. Parcheta is now a NASA postdoctoral fellow based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA.
Volcano exploration can be tricky, so Parcheta and her co-advisor, a robotics researcher at JPL named Aaron Parness, are creating robots that can make the trip and gather the intel.
"We don't know exactly how volcanoes erupt," Parcheta told NASA. "We have models but they are all very, very simplified. This project aims to help make those models more realistic."
Parcheta was a finalist in National Geographic's Expedition Granted campaign and was awarded $50,000 as the next "great explorer," according to NASA.
In May 2014, VolcanoBot 1 rolled down an inactive fissure on the active Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. VolcanoBot 1 descended 82 feet in two different spots, but never reached the bottom (the tether wasn't long enough).
"In order to eventually understand how to predict eruptions and conduct hazard assessments, we need to understand how the magma is coming out of the ground," Parcheta told NASA. "This is the first time we have been able to measure it directly, from the inside, to centimeter-scale accuracy."
VolcanoBot 1 spotted bulges on the rock wall, like the bulges seen on the surface of the fissure, but it also discovered something unexpected: the fissure did not "pinch shut," according to NASA.
Parcheta and Parness plan to revisit the Kilauea fissure with a stronger robot - the 10-inch VolcanoBot 2 - complete with boosted motors and electrical communications for more data transfer to the surface.
"It has better mobility, stronger motors and smaller (5 inch, or 12 centimeter) wheels than the VolcanoBot 1," Parcheta told NASA. "We've decreased the amount of cords that come up to the surface when it's in a volcano."
VolcanoBot 2 will take its plunge in March.
