I work on this project under Bill Stone's company Stone Aerospace [1]. One of the projects, VALKYRIE [2], is a laser powered cryobot to melt through ice in order to launch a vehicle in the water underneath. ARTEMIS is the AUV for SIMPLE, and is the third generation following the AUVs DEPTHX & ENDURANCE. VALKYRIE has been field tested and ARTEMIS goes to Antarctica this fall.
[1] http://www.stoneaerospace.com/
[2] http://www.wired.com/2012/04/bill-stone-laser-powered-europa...