Resource prospector drill performance during the integrated payload tests

The goal of the Lunar Resource Prospector (RP) is to capture and evaluate volatile species within the top meter of the lunar regolith. The RP drill has been designed to 1. Generate cuttings and place them on the surface for analysis by the Near InfraRed Volatiles Spectrometer Subsystem (NIRVSS), and 2. Capture cuttings and transfer them to the Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) coupled with the Lunar Advanced Volatiles Analysis (LAVA) subsystem. The drill auger is designed to capture cuttings as opposed to cores. The lower auger section has deep and low pitch flutes for retaining of cuttings. The upper section has been designed to efficiently move the cuttings out of the hole. The drill uses a “bite” sampling approach where samples are captured in ∼10 cm intervals. The drill has been integrated with the NASA JSC RP rover prototype and tested in the summer of 2015. This paper describes the drill and test results.