NASA's one-of-a-kind snake robot is preparing to launch into space.

NASA created the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, a snake-like robot, to examine Saturn's moon Enceladus.

NASA is developing a one-of-a-kind snake robot to search for life on a faraway moon, and you can now watch it slither across difficult terrain on Earth as it prepares for a tough mission in deep space. In theory, Saturn's moon Enceladus possesses all of the components required for life as we know it — liquid water, the proper chemistry, and a heat source — making it one of the most promising leads in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

The study of such vents will be a unique task for NASA. So far, every rover it has dispatched to study another body has been a form of a wheeled bot that just rolls over solid ground, which will not operate on Enceladus. To answer this unprecedented challenge, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is developing an unprecedented robot called the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS).

The 220-pound robot is snake-like, with 10 identical segments totaling 13 feet in length. When the segments rotate, screw threads on them move the robot forward, whether on land, ice, or water. The EELS researchers intend to complete the snake robot's development by the autumn of 2024 and then submit a proposal to Encladeus. If permitted, it would take EELS 12 years from launch to reach its target.