Testing of a 1 meter Mars IceBreaker Drill in a 3.5 meter Vacuum Chamber and in an Antarctic Mars Analog Site

In this paper we report on the development of a rotary-percussive sampling drill: the IceBreaker. The purpose of the drill is to penetrate at least 1 meter in icy-regolith and in ice, and acquire sub-surface sample for science analysis. The drill was tested at a Mars analog site in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica and inside a 3.5 meter vacuum chamber in icy-soil, ice and ice with 2% perchlorate. In all cases, the drill reached ~1 meter depth in approximately one hour. The average power was 100 Watts and Weight on Bit was less than 100 Newton. This corresponds to the drilling energy of 100 Whr. In each case approximately 500 cubic centimeters of sample was recovered and deposited into sterile bags.