RedWater: Extraction of Water from Mars’ Ice Deposits
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
11-3-2021
Department
Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Abstract
Honeybee Robotics has designed, built, and tested a TRL4/5 system known as RedWater, intended to drill into the surface of Mars and melt/extract water from locations identified by the Shallow Subsurface Radar, SHARAD. RedWater combines proven terrestrial technologies to extract water from the subsurface Martian ice. Rodriguez Wells, or RodWells, are a type of water well employed in Antarctica to maintain large pools of liquid water within an ice sheet and pumping water to the surface while heating and recirculating a portion to facilitate continuous well growth. RedWater also repurposes coiled tube drilling technology, which uses a thin-walled metal or composite tube to drive a bottom hole assembly into a borehole; the coiled tube itself is wound onto a drum and deployed by an injector system which transmits the required drilling forces through the tube as it is driven down. The combination of these two technologies with Honeybee’s existing rotary percussive drilling and pneumatic transport technologies make for an efficient means of producing large quantities of liquid water on Mars. Honeybee is currently working on evolving this technology to TRL6 and will be conducting end-to-end TVAC testing in 2022.
Publication Title
ASCEND 2021
Recommended Citation
Mellerowicz, B.,
Zacny, K.,
Palmowski, J.,
Bradley, B.,
Stolov, L.,
Yen, B.,
van Susante, P.,
Johnson, G.,
&
et al.
(2021).
RedWater: Extraction of Water from Mars’ Ice Deposits.
ASCEND 2021.
http://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-4038
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/15784
Publisher's Statement
Copyright © 2021 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-4038