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Subsurface exploration of ice-covered planets and moons presents communications challenges because of the need to communicate through kilometers of ice. The objective of this task is to develop the capability to wirelessly communicate through kilometers of ice and thus complement the potentially failure-prone tethers deployed behind an ice-penetrating probe on Ocean Worlds. In this paper, the preliminary work on the development of wireless deep-ice communication is presented and discussed. The communication test and acoustic attenuation measurements in ice have been made by embedding acoustic transceivers in glacial ice at the Matanuska Glacier, Anchorage, Alaska. Field test results show that acoustic communication is viable through ice, demonstrating the transmission of data and image files in the 13-18 kHz band over 100 m. The results suggest that communication over many kilometers of ice thickness could be feasible by employing reduced transmitting frequencies around 1 kHz, though future work is needed to better constrain the likely acoustic attenuation properties through a refrozen borehole.

Heart block is rare in pediatrics with many possible causes. An association between complete heart block (CHB) and pathogenic titin (TTN) mutations have not been previously described. We report a 9-year-old female with history of leukodystrophy and family history of atrial fibrillation who presented with syncope and conduction abnormalities, including CHB. She underwent pacemaker implantation and genetic testing demonstrated a pathogenic TTN mutation likely responsible for her cardiac findings. Our case suggests an association between TTN mutations and conduction disease and emphasizes broadening gene testing in assessing these patients, especially when a family history is present., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)