Drilling Automation Tests At A Lunar/Mars Analog Site

Introduction: Space drilling will require intelligent and autonomous systems for robotic exploration and to support future human exploration, as energy, mass and human presence will be scarce. Unlike rover navigation problems, most planetary drilling will be blind – absent any precursor seismic imaging of substrates, which is common on Earth prior to drilling for hydrocarbons. The search for evidence of extant microbial life on Mars drives the need for the eventual acquisition of core samples from subsurface depths estimated at hundreds to thousands of meters where, beneath permafrost, the increasing temperature would be consistent with the presence of interstitial water (as a brine) in its liquid phase. On the Moon, eventual in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) will require deep drilling with probable human-supervised operation [1] of large-bore drills, but initial lunar subsurface exploration and near-term ISRU will be accomplished with lightweight, rover-deployable or standalone drills capable of penetrating a few tens of meters in depth.