Auto-Gopher-II: an autonomous wireline rotary-hammer ultrasonic drill test results

In-situ exploration the solar system planetary bodies requires the ability to penetrate the subsurface for sample collection. One type of a sampling device used in past missions that is continually being developed is the drill. In these extraterrestrial applications, the drilling systems have mass, volume and energy consumption constraints that limit their depth of penetration. To address the related challenge, a deep drill, called Auto-Gopher II, is currently being developed as a joint effort between JPL’s NDEAA laboratory and Honeybee Robotics Ltd. The Auto-Gopher II is a wireline rotary-hammer drill that combines breaking formations by hammering using a piezoelectric actuator and removing and collecting the cuttings by rotating a fluted bit. The hammering is produced by the Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corer (USDC) mechanism that has been developed by the JPL team as an adaptable tool for many drilling and coring applications. The USDC uses an intermediate free-flying mass to convert high frequency vibrations of a piezoelectric transducer horn tip into lower frequency hammering of the drill bit. The USDC concept was used in a previous task to develop an Ultrasonic/Sonic Ice Gopher and then integrated into a rotary hammer device to develop the Auto-Gopher-I. The lessons learned from these developments were implemented into the development of the Auto-Gopher-II, an autonomous deep wireline drill with integrated cuttings management and drive electronics. Subsystems of this wireline drill were developed in parallel at JPL and Honeybee Robotics Ltd. In this paper, we present the latest developments including the integration of the whole drill, laboratory testing and field test results.