Drilling Archives

This rover prototype, designed by NASA’s Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies, or ARADS, team, is helping test the tools and techniques that could be used to hunt for signs of life — either past or present — on Mars. -- NASA

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mars, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies (ARADS) Project

by Keith CowingApril 10, 2024April 10, 2024

With advances in commercial space launch capabilities and reduced costs to orbit, humans may arrive on Mars within a decade.

Loki's Castle. CREDIT Copyright: Centre for Geobiology, Bergen, Norway, by R.B. Pedersen

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Sediment Cores Shed Light On Past Hydrothermal Activity

by Keith CowingMarch 13, 2024March 13, 2024

In new research led by USGS, scientists analyzed cores collected from Loki’s Castle vent field, a high-temperature hydrothermal system deep beneath the Arctic Ocean northeast of Greenland, uncovering a unique […]

Front Hazcam Left image of Sid rock acquired just after the Atsah sample was drilled (sol 374) and prior to unloading of the stabilizers. The Drill and Stabilizers are labeled, and the Drill is partially extracted from the outcrop. There is a small tailings pile created by the coring activity around the Drill. Image FLF_0374_0700151087_506CWS_N0110108FHAZ00911_0A0195J02.

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Study Determines The Original Orientations Of Rocks Drilled By Mars Perseverance Astrobiology Rover

by Keith CowingMarch 5, 2024March 5, 2024

As it trundles around an ancient lakebed on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is assembling a one-of-a-kind rock collection. The car-sized explorer is methodically drilling into the Red Planet’s surface and […]

The Moon rises over the ARADS team, working with its prototype Mars rover in the Atacama Desert, during the 2018 season of field tests. -- NASA

Analog Studies, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Tech: In Situ Real-Time Monitoring for Aseptic Drilling

by Keith CowingDecember 29, 2023December 29, 2023

Lessons Learned from the Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies Contamination Control Strategy and Implementation and Application to the Icebreaker Mars Life Detection Mission

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Press Release

Ice World Surveys: Laser-based Ice-core Sampling For Studying Climate Change

by Keith CowingDecember 12, 2023December 12, 2023

Editor’s note: as we prepare to visit ice-covered ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus – and one day to actually drill beneath their outer surface – we’re certainly going […]

Digging Deeper to Find Life on Ocean Worlds - Conceptual image of a cryobot breaching into the ocean of Europa and searching for signs of life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

NASA Studies Cryobots To Explore Ocean Worlds

by Keith CowingDecember 6, 2023December 6, 2023

In February 2023, researchers from around the country gathered at a NASA-sponsored workshop to discuss the latest developments and a roadmap for a cryobot mission concept to drill through the […]

Scanning electron microscope image using material taken in the drill core from the borehole taken in 1981 from the Nördlinger Ries reveals dolomite crystals with rhombohedral shape. Photo: Lingqi Zeng, Göttingen University

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Press Release

Limitations Of Asteroid Crater Lakes As Climate Archives

by Keith CowingDecember 6, 2023December 6, 2023

In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this […]

Blood Falls seeps from the end of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. The tent at left provides a sense of scale for just how big the phenomenon is. Scientists believe a buried saltwater reservoir is partly responsible for the discoloration, which is a form of reduced iron. -- by Peter Rejcek via Wikipedia

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Enceladus, Europa, Icy Worlds, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Field-Based Planetary Protection Operations for Melt Probes: Validation of Clean Access into the Blood Falls, Antarctica, Englacial Ecosystem

by Keith CowingNovember 19, 2023November 19, 2023

Subglacial environments on Earth offer important analogs to Ocean World targets in our solar system. These unique microbial ecosystems remain understudied due to the challenges of access through thick glacial […]

The Mastcam-Z imager on NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a series of images on July 6 that were stitched together to show a field of boulders deposited in Jezero Crater by a fast-moving ancient river. Rover tracks across the middle of the image give a sense of scale. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

An Ancient Riverbed On Mars Is Helping Perseverance Do Its Work

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2023July 19, 2023

The six-wheeled geologist is getting some assistance in its search for diverse rock samples that could be brought to Earth for deeper investigation.

This image shows the rocky outcrop the Perseverance science team calls “Berea” after the NASA Mars rover extracted a rock core (right) and abraded a circular patch (left). The image was taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on March 30, 2023, the 749th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover Collects First Sample Of Its New Science Campaign

by Keith CowingApril 1, 2023April 1, 2023

NASA’s Perseverance rover cored and stored the first sample of the mission’s newest science campaign on Thursday, March 30. With each campaign, the team explores and studies a new area. […]