Dear Paul E Bennett,

Thank you for your reply. I would follow your leadership for contributing my decades experience for LMO / Drill . I may able to travel to Europe during Oct/ Nov for ESA missions? Welcome to contact me direct via e mail?

Best,

TC

If you are in the Netherlands on 4 October, ESTEC in Noordwijk(Outside Leiden, not far from Amsterdam) has an open day for the general public. I am going again, and they usually have lots of displays of equipment.

You have to register at:


www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/esa-estec-open-da...stration-17495794392

and bring your passport ID.

andy, g0SFJ

Andy G0SFJ wrote: If you are in the Netherlands on 4 October, ESTEC in Noordwijk(Outside Leiden, not far from Amsterdam) has an open day for the general public. I am going again, and they usually have lots of displays of equipment.

Thanks Andy.
Unfortunately that clashes with another conference in the UK (for which I am co-organiser). So, much as I would like to have hopped over for that one I am unable to be in two places at once. Thanks again for the heads up and perhaps some of the others might attend and report back.

Knowing it has been a bit quite I figured an update was probably worthwhile.
The team have seemed to focus on the wire-line drilling method of pushing a 15cm core drill with a mole like creepeing action to push it down. Drilling temperature will be necessary and the controls will need to address that. As for teh extracted Lunar soil, it is estimated to be about 7.9 cubic metres of material, and will have to likely be ejected after analysis onto a position opposite the drill site.
Bore-hole lining has several ideas being researched and explored. From laser sintering of the surface of the borehole, 3d-Printing regolith to provide a smooth wall or even installing a stent lattice. Energy requirements and carried mass may determine which idea will win out.
It is worth looking at the papers submitted in other areas and adding your comments to those ideas in this forum.