Testing lunar ice drill

Testing a design for an ice drill designed to penetrate 1–2 m into the lunar surface, envisaged by ESA to fly to the Moon’s south pole on Russia’s Luna-27 lander in 2020.

Developed by Finmeccanica in Nerviano, Italy, the drill would first penetrate into the frozen regolith and then deliver the samples to a chemical laboratory.

The drill system plus laboratory are collectively known as Prospect:  Platform for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting in support of Exploration, Commercial exploitation & Transportation.

Prospect is one of the packages being developed by ESA for flight to the Moon as part of cooperation on Russia’s lunar programme.