ASTID

Astrobiology Rotary-Percussive Automated Drill (ARPAD)

PI: Brian Glass

This project will design and build an automated prototype rotary-percussive drill system, capable of penetrating regolith and ice layers to 5m or greater. It will use this rotary-percussive drill with several kinds of rocks, both in laboratory ambient and Mars-environmental conditions, in order to develop models of Mars rotary-percussive drilling performance and fault modes. It will add core sampling functionality to the existing drill hardware. The project will also leverage existing capabilities: software automation and non-contact vibrational model characterization from previous drilling automation projects (MIDP and ASTEP), Mars-environmental test chambers (PIDD), and the team’s experience in building both flight and prototype drilling and drilling instruments for Mars and other planetary missions. It will replicate temperature, pressure, vapor composition and water presence in sampled materials in laboratory tests, and build on the proposal team’s prior work in test chambers, as well as designing and testing drill strings and cutting bits and with the MSL drill. It will use power draw and applied loads to identify and respond to drilling behaviors and avoid getting stuck. It will demonstrate realistic
systems-level operations in a terrestrial analog environment, acquiring and curating cores and other samples. Finally, the project will bring the technology readiness levels of rotary-percussive drilling from a 3 to a 5, and of the drilling control and automation software from a 4 to a 6. It addresses two areas of clear need for next-decade risk mitigation for drilling and coring missions, and leverages the technologies and facilities developed to date.