Application of a Remote Controlled Hammering Drill from Space to Deep Sea

Abstract

The topic of this paper is to describe design Options for a hammering drill (‘mole’) device for the deep sea environment. Such a system was originally developed by the German Aerospace Center DLR for a mission to Mars aboard the BEAGLE 2 lander of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) MARS EXPRESS mission, which was lost during landing on the planet in December 2003. Now a second generation mole System is in development for ESA’s EXOMARS mission, with a scheduled launch in 2016. The moles described here are designed with reliable mechanisms, are very lightweight and have a unique low power requirement. These attributes could make moles also attractive for ocean floor sediment studies in deep sea exploration.