We’ve continued making great progress on our Mars ice drill, the Lion Piercer. Our drill system will feature two subsystems, an overburden extraction auger to clear a path to the ice, and an ice extraction drill that extracts the in-hole ice for melting. Both drills utilize cylindrical casing in their drilling mechanism.

Furthermore, both drills will be moved by a gantry system mounted atop our simulated ice box environment. System mock-up:

Our upcoming deadline is the Mid-Project Review on April 2nd, when we will be submitting a video of our drill prototype in action, featuring its mounting system, control interface, and operation excavating overburden and ice. In addition, we’ll be submitting a written document describing our development process and our integration and testing plan.

Ad astra!

-James