Drilling and sampling technologies

In this activity, a drill sampling tool, without percussion, shall be developed. One prototype drill for sampling granular and rocky soil, up to medium/hard rock, shall be designed and tested on various materials and conditions. The work will be base on a drill principle, called MicroRosa, developed by a Finnish consortium. However, the dimensions of this drill do not meet the new requirements for the two Mars missions, thus rescaling of this drill concept will be an important part of the activity.

It will be primarily focused on the development feasibility demonstration of a drill sample tool (DST) of about 20 mm diameter. The DST has to collect soil samples of different nature at desired drilling depths up to two metres. Operation of the tool can be based on opening and closing the sample chamber in the tool at a desired depth. The DST shall be able to sample both sandy and soft rocky soil with negligible losses of sampled soil. The interface of the DST shall provide mechanical and electrical interface. In the course of this activity a typical piece of the interface shall be developed. The DST is an exchangeable element inserted in a rotary drill string sampling subsystem which has already been defined.

This activity is complementary to Technology Research Programme (TRP) activities issued in drilling and sampling technologies to develop a set of tools adapted to a full range of soil materials, from fine granular to hardest rocky soils.