Description:

Upcoming missions to the moon, Mars, and Titan plan to use drills to access subsurface materials. The PRIME 1 and VIPER missions, both planned for 2024 launch, will drill to depths of up to 1- meter on the moon. Studies are underway that help prepare for these missions by collecting and analyzing drill data produced by an engineering model of TRIDENT, the drill used on those missions. Drill performance can provide unique information about subsurface properties like material strength, state, depositional processes, water content and form. The candidate may participate in drill operations and research methods to interpret drill performance data in terms of subsurface properties. Approaches that involve data analysis, theoretical modeling and/or machine learning are encouraged. Research may also involve other methods to probe subsurface properties such as Ground Penetrating Radar and/ or active seismic profiling. Proposals are encouraged that include design and preparation of laboratory simulants for drilling experiments, identifying field analog locations, performing drilling experiments in them, and analyzing the resulting data. Projects that involve analysis of TRIDENT data from the lunar missions are also encouraged.

Field of Science:  Planetary Sciences
Advisors:

Carol Stoker
Carol.R.Stoker@nasa.gov
650-604-6490