You hear a lot about space technology being adapted for use on Earth–many of the high-tech marvels in fields as diverse as meteorology and medicine wouldn’t exist if not for the space program–but the Canadian Space Agency is doing the opposite: adapting Earth technology for use in space.
The CSA has taken the first steps towards adapting the drills hard-rock miners in Sudbury use into a specialized drill designed to dig beneath the surface of Mars, but as part of the ongoing search for life on the Red Planet.
The prototype drill, demonstrated last week, was developed by the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, located in Sudbury, Ontario. NORCAT’s focus is normally close to Earth–it provides Ontario’s forestry, mining and northern construction sectors with access to companies and entrepreneurs for training, technology transfer, and product development. But when the CSA decided to develop a prototype Mars drill, it naturally turned to experts in drilling–precisely the people NORCAT, located in the heart of Canada’s nickel mining country, could bring together.
So far missions to Mars have poked around on the surface. But the surface is a very harsh place. Although the atmosphere is thin, winds reaching160 kph are still able to raise massive dust storms, altering the surface geology. That same thin atmosphere means that the surface is subject to extreme highs and lows of temperature, not to mention intense radiation.
Recent data from the Mars Global Surveyor, however, have shown that volcanic action could make underground Mars warm enough that liquid water might exist at relatively shallow depths. And if life is to be found anywhere on Mars, it’s most likely to be found where there is water–here on Earth we find life anywhere there is water, even miles underground.
To find that water, we have to drill. And there’s another reason to look for underground water: any future visit by humans would be made immeasurably easier if water were available locally, instead of having to be hauled into space from Earth.
Drilling will also give geologists a better idea of Mars’s composition.
The CSA’s idea is that the “Canadadrill” (I think “Canadrill” would be catchier) would be sent to Mars on a lander sometime after 2007.
There are very strict technological requirements for a Martian drill. First, it must be as light as possible–it costs about $1 million per kilogram to send anything to Mars. Second, it can’t use hydraulics or oil.
Third, it has to do without lubrication of the drill bit. On Earth, drill cones are flushed out with water, which acts as both a lubricant and a coolant. Shipping water to Mars would be prohibitively expensive.
Fourth, it would have to use far less power than an Earth-based drill (drawn from solar panels or a small nuclear generator) and operate at lower speeds.
Fifth, it must be able to cut through any kind of rock it might encounter. (Exactly what the drill might run into may be partially answered by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, arriving at Mars late next year. It’s carrying ground-penetrating radar.)
And finally, it has to be able to operate in extreme conditions–for example, at a temperature of -120 Celsius.
The prototype drill the CSA demonstrated last week doesn’t meet all those requirements yet, but it’s a start. It’s essentially a scaled-down version of the enormous five-ton diamond core drills used to mine the Canadian Shield. It weighs about 45 kilograms, and uses a rotating core drill bit with fused diamonds.
The drill would be accompanied by a robotic system for retrieving samples, called the “subsurface sample acquisition and handling system.” (Technically, the drill isn’t a drill; it’s a “vertical investigation system.”) The samples wouldn’t be brought back to Earth, but instead would be examined by the robot and the findings radioed home. The robotics would be developed by MD Robotics, the Richmond, B.C., company also designed the remote manipulators (“Canadarms”) that have been Canada’s primary contribution to the space shuttle and space station programs.
Before the drill goes anywhere, though, it has to go on a diet. It needs to weigh somewhere between nine and 15 kilograms–the lighter (and smaller) the better. But the drill’s developers are confident they can reach that goal.
It will be a few years yet before we know for certain if a Canadian drill will go to Mars. But if it does, Canadians could well play a pivotal role in the greatest scientific discovery of all time: the discovery of life on another planet.
