Subsurface Access & Sampling
IDDS — Inchworm Deep Drilling System
Product Features
NASA has awarded two contracts to Honeybee Robotics to develop a lightweight, low power, subterranean rover that will use inchworm mobility and draw power from a next-generation Stirling Radioisotope Thermal Generator to burrow numerous kilometers below the surface of Mars, Europa, or other planetary bodies. The self-contained drilling rover leapfrogs conventional approaches to drilling that employ mass-intensive connecting drill strings and traditional power supplies, both of which are prohibitive for extra-terrestrial sampling at great depths.
The tetherless, inch-worming rover will cut through rock and ice then report its findings through relays left in the borehole or by traveling back up to the surface. As the forward section drills and extends further into rock, the aft section remains anchored to the borehole via small pins or feet. Once drilling ceases, the forward section anchors itself to the borehole and the aft section moves further down the hole. This process is repeated the entire length of the borehole.
The nature of the inchworm mobility technique allows the device to move both up and down the borehole. Scientific instruments, sampling tools, and sensors will be accommodated onboard this inch-worming rover.