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Field Update - July 2004 Planetary Drill Automation Field Test at Arctic Crater For the first time, a full-scale Mars-prototype deep drill has been tested under field conditions at a high-fidelity Mars-analog site. The first Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) field season deployed a modified Honeybee Deep Drill. In four days, it drilled 2.2m in permafrost and regolith-like breccia at two sites at Haughton Crater on Devon Island in the the Canadian Arctic, operating at Mars-relevant power levels (150-200W). Eight faults were demonstrated during testing, and vibrational signatures of the drill shaft were acquired for use in diagnosis and control development. All objectives for the 2004 field season were met, and additionally the team (working 15-hour days in a windswept hilltop tent shown) at completion integrated the Honeybee control software with the initial IC-developed Conditional Executive, and tested the Executive running simple drilling plans. The latter was planned as a 2005 milestone, so the project is ahead of schedule in that respect. Principal Investigator: Dr. Brian Glass, 1+ (650) 604-3512, brian.glass AT nasa.gov
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