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See: Armageddon, the movie. Maybe we just need to go full Bruce Willis. Somebody get Ben Affleck to sing Leaving on a Jet Plane. In seriousness, it sounds lik
by 52-6F-62 8y ago
See: Armageddon, the movie.
Maybe we just need to go full Bruce Willis. Somebody get Ben Affleck to sing Leaving on a Jet Plane.
In seriousness, it sounds like a fascinating problem. If anyone has seen the drills they use to make holes for piles for new condo/office towers—they're probably wider than needed in this case (not actually sure of that)— the drill (bit?) is extendable, but the rig itself is enormous. Those are mobile units.
Otherwise something like a semi-permanent or permanent unfolding oil-rig type machine would be needed?
None of this helps with the weight problem. I wonder if there's a more clever option.
- AstralStorm 8y agoUse a digging rig combined with multiple explosive charges perhaps. Essentially a small shape charge version of solid boosters will work. It would be similar to preparing a shallow mine. After the hole is made you get to clean it up to obtain decent samples though. Whether this would save size or mass is to be seen, a digging drone would preferably be small though very sturdy and dense to survive landslides.
- 52-6F-62 8y agoRight— I now remember some conversation surrounding a similar problem on Titan(?). I think a drilling drone was proposed, but communications posed complicated. That is, communicating to a base rover to route to Earth. I could picture some kind of high-tensile wire on a spool connected to the digging drone. It might not be the highest speed communication, but if it at least proved reliable, that could work, no?