Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen?

[Admin]

Scientists and engineers are making progress on drilling technology that could access Mars' seemingly vast stores of near-surface water ice.

Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen? : Read more

 

[24launch]

Sounds like we have the right company to design the drill!

One would assume and hope they studied every bit and byte of data from the Insight lander to understand why the Mars Mole drill failed there - and that was relatively warm (for Mars!), dry soil. Drilling through ice potentially as packed and hard as stone will up the challenge considerably but the success will be another huge leap in understanding Mars and the next step toward eventual colonization.

 

[billslugg]

Water ice at 0°C has a Moh's hardness of 2, same as gypsum.
At -78.5°F, the sublimation point of dry ice, water ice has a Moh's hardness of 6, harder than glass.