The Dust Removal Tool (DRT) is designed to expose the natural surfaces of Martian rocks obscured by layers of dust deposited by aeolian processes. The DRT, contained within a cylinder 154-mm long and 102-mm in diameter, has a mass of 925 grams. Using a single brushless DC motor, the DRT removes dust from an area 45 mm in diameter. During the dust removal process, a set of brushes articulate to maintain surface contact as they rotate at high speed. The DRT belongs to a special class of aerospace mechanisms designed to interact with unstructured extraterrestrial surface objects and environments. The wide range of rock surface characteristics along with severe resource constraints makes the DRT solution non-trivial. The mechanism features a high reduction single-stage planetary gear box and pivoting brushes that both offered lessons learned. The flight unit DRT was integrated with the MSL rover in early 2011 and is currently on track to begin surface operations at Mars’ Gale Crater in August 2012.

A rotary-sonic drilling system was designed, built, and tested at Earth and Martian atmospheric pressures and the performance was compared against that of rotary and rotary-percussive drills. The sonic drilling technique uses vibrations to create resonance in the drill string to improve drilling performance and assist with cuttings removal. Tests were performed using a full-faced drill bit to a depth of 1 meter. Data from these tests demonstrated improved drilling performance of rotary-sonic over rotary drilling. However, for these set of tests, the rotary-percussive drill out performed the rotary-sonic drilling technique. Future testing should be done to evaluate and compare the sonic drilling method to other methods for capturing cores and for reaching depths in the 10 meter range.

NASA has grand goals including exploring extraterrestrial bodies such as near-earth objects (NEOs) in order to better understand our origins as well as protect Earth from space-based threats.1 Robotic precursor missions and eventually manned exploration will require advanced dust-tolerant mechanisms if long-life and low-risk missions are to be attained.

Introduction: Knowledge of the Moon's thermal structure is fundamental in understanding its origin and internal compositional variation, both of which are intertwined with the origin of the Earth and the rest of the solar system (NASA Strategic Goal 3C). The flow of heat that originates from the lunar interior can be measured, and serves as a constraint to the thermal structure. That is why heat flow measurements were conducted during the Apollo missions [1] and are considered high priority for the International Lunar Network (ILN) missions planned in the next decade [2]. Heat flow is determined from two sets of measurements made in the subsurface: the thermal gradient in, and the thermal conductivity of, the depth interval of interest. A cylindrical probe is inserted into the subsurface for carrying out these measurements (Fig. 1). A heat flow probe typically contains a series of temperature sensors placed along its length. Temperature measurements obtained at different depths down the probe yield the thermal gradient. The probe also contains an electrical heater wire run along its length. After the thermal gradient has been determined, the wire emits heat into the surrounding regolith formation. The temperature sensors monitor how quickly or slowly the heat dissipates away from the probe at their depths. The information is used to calculate the thermal conductivity of the regolith [3-4]. The shallow subsurface temperature of the Moon is strongly influenced by the diurnal, annual, and prece-sional fluctuations of the insolation [1, 5-6]. Therefore , the best way to measure the internal heat flow is to insert the probe to a depth beyond the reach of the surface fluctuation. In order to avoid the 18.6-year-cycle precessions effect, the probe must reach 5-to 7-m depth [6-7]. Constraints and Options for Heat Flow Probe Deployment: A heat flow probe may be deployed in a number of ways on the Moon. However, for the ILN, very few options would fully meet both the constraints imposed by the small lander and the scientific objective of measuring the internal heat flow. For example, a mole can be an ideal tool for subsurface access for lander missions by meeting the mass and power constraints , but it is unlikely that it would reach the desired depth of 5 to 7 m into lunar regolith solely by internal hammering of the small mass. In addition, the hole dug by the mole would have variable diameters

Introduction: Measuring internal heat flow (i.e., heat flow that originates deep within the interior of the Moon) tells us about the origin of the Moon and its composition. If we know the age of the Moon, then the heat flow will reveal if it had a hot or cold origin. In addition, heat flow will reveal information on the bulk structure and composition of the Moon relative to heat producing elements (radioactive 40K, 232Th, 235U and 238U) and the extent of crystal differentiation.