火星移動科学探査車(ローバー)用掘削機の開発

概要

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An experimental study has been made on a drilling machine on board Mars rover for scientific exploration of Mars with a special emphasis on fabricating a model and testing. The major objective of Mars exploration is set to search for water and organic material in underground of Mars. An engineering model of a drilling machine to be on board and used for the sample collection in an extensive scientific exploration of Mars surface and undeground has been fabricated. As a drilling machine, [auger boring] has been adopted. Though it cannot drill hard rocks, it is simple and easy to operate, because it does not require any liquid for lubrication and cooling. No particular effort has been done yet to reduce the weight and size. It has a capablity of 1.5 meter boring, requiring 1.15kW electric power. The auger bit is surrounded with a metal cylindrical casing and the collected soil is stored in the space between the auger bit and the casing. A drilling test was performed using a simulated Mars soil. It has a layered structure, and between each layer, a thin sheet having different color is inserted. The simulated soil has been drilled and collected preserving the layer structure. It has been verified that the sample can be collected with a vertical resolution of about 20 cm.
宇宙航空研究開発機構の論文