23 MARCH 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® What Will Exploration Drilling on the Moon Reveal? Adapted from Information by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) As scientists prepare to establish the first long-term human base camp on the Moon, NASA’s Artemis mission will be using innovative technologies and collaborating with commercial and international partners to make sure the . Living and working on the lunar surface will require using resources already there, like water and ice, which can be used for life support and fuel. The Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1, or PRIME-1, will be deployed to the lunar south pole by commercial lunar lander partner, Intuitive Machines, where it will be used to drill for water on the lunar surface. PRIME-1 is the combination of two instruments - a drill built by Honeybee Robotics called TRIDENT, which stands for The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain, and the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations, or MSolo, a commercially available mass spectrometer from INFICON which has been modified to operate in the harsh environment of space. The objective of PRIME-1 is to support NASA’s plans for mining resources on the lunar surface. It will be used on the lunar rover mission VIPER, short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. In addition to the TRIDENT and MSolo instruments, NASA engineers have integrated a neutron spectrometer system, and a near-infrared volatiles spectrometer system into the VIPER. TRIDENT will drill up to three feet below the lunar surface using its rotary percussive drill - meaning it both spins to cut into the ground and hammers to fragment hard material for more energy-efficient drilling. In addition to being able to measure the strength and compactedness of the lunar soil, the drill features a special tip fitted with a temperature sensor to take readings below the surface. As the drill cuttings are sent to the surface, the samples will be evaluated and identified, while the composition of water and other substances are being measured. Engineers and technicians from the agency’s Johnson, Kennedy, and Ames Research Center have also installed external heaters, harnesses, instrumentation sensors, and multilayer insulation onto the instruments. This critical hardware will help monitor and control how hot or cold the instruments get as the rover encounters different temperature conditions on the Moon, depending on whether the rover is in sunlight or shade. VIPER will launch to the Moon aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. It will reach its destination at Mons Mouton near the Moon’s South Pole in November 2024. During VIPER’s approximately 100-day mission, these four instruments will work together to provide a better understanding of the origin of water and other resources on the Moon, which could support human exploration as part of NASA’s Artemis program. The plan is to use what is learned on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars. For the first time, NASA will use robotics to drill in a single location on the lunar surface to search for water in either liquid or ice form. EXB For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com All New! Atlantis-Pro Vault • Traffic-Rated Capable • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation
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