Samples from ExoMars Drill tests
Date: 09 July 2010
Copyright: SELEX Galileo
This photograph shows samples of regolith, red brick and marble that have been successfully collected during a series of drilling and sampling tests that were performed at the Centre of Space Studies and Activities (CISAS) of the University of Padova, Italy, in April 2008. The objective of this test campaign, which was carried out in Mars-like conditions, was to verify the drilling and sampling performance of the ExoMars Drill prototype.
The Drill unit was tested on different types of materials which had been selected to simulate Martian soil samples. The three materials, shown in this picture in sample containers on a carousel accommodated under the Drill tip, have quite different characteristics: the regolith is powder, the marble and the red brick are bulky materials, the marble has a compressive strength in the range of 100 – 110 MPa, while the red brick has a compressive strength in the range of 20-30 MPa.
An environmental chamber at CISAS simulates the environmental conditions of Mars, that is, a temperature range of -130°C to + 40 °C and a pressure range of 5 to 10 mbar. No humidity (i.e. no ice) was added to the materials that were selected to simulate the Martian soil.
The most interesting output from this test campaign is that in these simulated conditions – low temperature, low pressure and dry conditions - the functional behaviour and the performance of the Drill are completely similar to the ones observed during several tests performed in the normal terrestrial environment of a laboratory. The test campaign lasted approximately 10 working days, 5 days for the test set-up and 5 days for performing the tests.
