Lunar And Terrestrial Drilling: Drilling: The Tele-robotics Approach
- Paper number
IAC-07-A3.6.B.07
- Author
Dr. Andrew Hide, LogicaCMG UK Ltd, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Roger Fincher, United States
- Coauthor
- Coauthor
Phil Bustin, LogicaCMG, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
David Barnes, University of Wales, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Julian Pickering, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Ian Crawford, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Andrew Coates, United Kingdom
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The space exploration and oil and gas exploration communities face a formidable challenge as we look to develop the technologies necessary for deep drilling in remote and inhospitable environments. While lunar and terrestrial operations each present their own unique challenges, many common requirements have already been identified. Commonalities with Martian drilling are fewer, but the decisions taken in devising lunar drilling concepts can point the way for the best approach there too. This paper draws on recent scientific interest in deep drilling on the Moon and Mars, e.g.: drilling boreholes to 100m or kilometre depths, such as may be required for sampling buried palaeo-regoliths on the Moon, and searching for extant, sub-surface litho-autotrophic organisms on Mars. The key difference between the Moon and Mars in this regard is the feasibility to use tele-robotic solutions for the Moon, which is also the case for earth-bound drilling. A comparison of requirements (covering such diverse aspects as survivability, fault tolerance, operations concepts, visualisation, simulation and sample handling) will be presented showing significant synergies between the lunar and terrestrial cases. The paper draws on experience from: • Highly respected lunar and planetary scientists, deriving the drilling requirements (depth, sampling strategies, etc.) from the main scientific objectives. • A leading oil and gas exploration company which highlights the key constraints and requirements of current and planned terrestrial drilling in hostile environments. • A leading software systems integrator which brings the experience of a range of applications in safety critical, computing intensive, applications. A roadmap for developing the technology for deep lunar drilling using an earth-based tele-robotic operations concept is presented, showing the synergy with equivalent plans for terrestrial drilling developments. Preliminary conclusions relevant to deep drilling on Mars are also offered.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-A3.6.B.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.