AUTOMATED CORE SAMPLE HANDLING FOR FUTURE MARS DRILL MISSIONS

Abstract

Signs of microbial life on Mars, if they exist, will probably exist underground. This paper describes a robotics system for handling and sub-sampling cores taken from a robotic drill. The system prepares samples for analysis and life detection experiments. This system has been integrated with a drill and other instruments and tested in the field. This paper presents a description of the system and observations from the field test. Key words: sample handling, Mars drill.