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The south pole of Mars is a most likely candidate for future expedition efforts there. It is also a location of interest for astrobiologists, as there is a good possibility that there might be indications of ancient water there and, for that reason, indications of ancient life– if there was any on the Red Planet anyhow. But to access that ancient life, explorers would need to get to it, which suggests digging much further than has actually ever been dug on Mars before. Typical deep-bore drilling devices is bulky, heavy, and tough to set up on remote terrain like the Martian South Pole. A group of engineers from Planet Enterprises, a Space Technology Incubator based in Washington, established a new deep bore drilling idea they call Borebots.
NASAs Institute for Advanced Concepts NIAC) support the Borebots principle back in 2021, and the engineers, led by Quinn Morley and Tom Bowen, produced a massive 96-page report of their efforts. That report details how Borebots are unique on the planet of extraterrestrial drilling and how extensively accepted the concept remained in numerous other expedition contexts.
The context it was developed for was to look for underground water in the Martian south pole. The engineers approximated they might collect interesting clinical data from a borehole measuring about 50 m down..
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They might be deployed by a rover comparable to the Perseverance rover currently trundling around Mars.
The south pole of Mars is a most likely prospect for future expedition efforts there. It is likewise a location of interest for astrobiologists, as there is a decent possibility that there may be signs of ancient water there and, therefore, signs of ancient life– if there was any on the Red Planet anyway. To gain access to that ancient life, explorers would have to get to it, which implies digging much even more than has ever been dug on Mars before. A group of engineers from Planet Enterprises, a Space Technology Incubator based in Washington, established a brand-new deep bore drilling concept they call Borebots.
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Fraser explains why its difficult to land heavy things, like deep-bore mining equipment, on the Red Planet.
When the Borebot makes it back into the deployment tube and safely into the rover, it can be shunted aside to a cleansing and recharging station while another one takes its place. With this speed, the Borebot system could almost continuously dig without the need for heavy assistance equipment– just a set of Borebots to keep hacking away at the rock..
The engineers believed of plenty of potential issues, consisting of how to power a dead Borebot in the hole– they might be established to power each other. And how might one make a branching bore if something is interesting in a specific location– by employing an articulated joint that would allow the next Borebot to proceed at a small angle– and hopefully not mess up the climbing process of any other Borebots that choose to continue the central hole.
Lots of fascinating CAD designs and even some 3D-printed devices are explained in the last report. Its not brief on math either– describing calculations from the power electronics to the torque necessary for the drill head. They also mention there was some revealed interest from The Mars Society to flesh out the concept for resource extraction, as well as a concept to possibly use the concept on ocean worlds..
However for now, its uncertain if the job is undertaking the next step in advancement. While the paper details a clear plan to increase the Technology Readiness Level, it does not appear to have actually gotten further moneying from NIAC, other any other funding source. The Planet Enterprises engineers have not let that get them down– their TitanAir concept received a NIAC Phase I award in 2023. So theyll have a lot of time to keep working on their wildly innovative ideas.
Find out more: Morley & & Bowen– Borebots: Tetherless Deep Drilling into the Mars South Polar Layer DepositUT– Mars has the Right Conditions for Life Just Under the SurfaceUT– Potentially More Subsurface Lakes Found on MarsUT– InSight Peers Deep Below the Surface on Mars.
Lead Image: Artists representation of a Borebot (the red & & blue cylinder) being deployed from a rover.Credit– Morley & & Bowen/ James Vaughn.
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Presentation of the Borebots project to the Mars SocietyCredit– The Mars Society YouTube Channel.
Typically, a borehole that far down, even on Earth, would need some sort of tether back to the surface area. Usually, that would consist of a cable television or a stiff piping system that would provide power and control to the drill bit. That implies a great deal of product, most of it heavy, making it pricey in area exploration.
So the team at Planet Enterprises developed a service– make self-governing bots that might do the drilling without being tethered to a base station. The bots themselves appear like pieces of drilling tubing. Still, they are autonomous robotics with a self-contained battery, drill bit, motor, and electronic system, all contained in a round housing that is 64mm in size by 1.1 m long..
They could be released by a rover comparable to the Perseverance rover currently rotating around Mars. The rover might extend an implementation tube, which the bot would come down and start busily drilling away at the surface area. Because it is remotely powered, its main constraint would be its battery life, as utilizing a drill bit to dig through regolith is power intensive. Once it begins to run low on battery, it can merely engage a series of traction spikes on its side and climb up back up the hole it had just dug..
