IceCube Enhanced Hot Water Drill functional description

Benson, Theophilus; Cherwinka, J. J.; DuVernois, Michael; Elcheikh, Alan; Feyzi, F.; Greenler, L.; Haugen, J.; Karle, A.; Mulligan, Mark; Paulos, R.

doi:10.3189/2014aog68a032

Cited by 44 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…two 225 kW generators, power distribution module (PDM) and other IceCube enhanced hot water drill system equipment [53]); -convert the IceCube return water cable reel into the WISSARD CHWDS main hose reel and install it in the HRU; retrograde cargo arrived in Lincoln, NE, in April 2012 and . The extension rail on the roof of the HRU allows the crescent dolly to be moved out over the deck to guide the main drill hose into the borehole, which is located directly below an opening in the primary work deck.…”

Section: Wissard Clean Hot Water Drill Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling clean access into Subglacial Lake Whillans: development and use of the WISSARD hot water drill system

Rack¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Clean hot water drill systems (CHWDSs) are used with clean access protocols for the exploration of subglacial lakes and other subglacial aquatic environments (e.g. ice-shelf cavities) in Antarctica. A CHWDS developed for the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project by the Science Management Office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL-SMO), USA, was specifically designed for use in West Antarctica, where the US Antarctic Program's South Pole Traverse could assist with logistical support. The initial goal was to provide clean access holes through ice up to 1000 m thick following environmental stewardship guidelines; however, the existing design allows this CHWDS to be used for ice thicknesses up to 2000 m following modifications to accommodate longer hose lengths. In January 2013, the WISSARD CHWDS successfully provided for the first time a clean access borehole through 800 m of ice into Subglacial Lake Whillans beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet for the deployment of scientific instruments and sampling tools. The development and initial use of the WISSARD CHWDS required the project team to address a number of constraints while providing contingencies to meet the defined project scope, schedule and budget.

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Section: Wissard Clean Hot Water Drill Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling clean access into Subglacial Lake Whillans: development and use of the WISSARD hot water drill system

Rack¹

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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“…In the 1970s, hot-water ice drilling technology was introduced by French and Swiss scientists as one of the fastest methods to drill boreholes in glaciers [1,2]. Nowadays, hot-water drill systems are actively used for different tasks that can be subdivided by depth as shown ( Figure 1): (1) near-surface drilling up to 50-60 m for ablation stakes installation, temperature measurements, access to lake/ocean water, and seismic surveying [3,4]; (2) shallow drilling up to 300-400 m for monitoring glacier dynamics, basal sliding, and englacial water pressure [5,6]; (3) intermediate drilling up to 1500 m for studying marginal parts of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, for access holes through ice shelves, and for subglacial lakes exploration [7][8][9]; and (4) deep drilling up to a depth of 3500 m for subglacial exploration, installation of neutrino detectors, and other scientific applications [10,11]. Even coring of ice is possible with hot-water drilling [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, to deploy samplers and other instrumentation, the size of hot-water boreholes has to be increased to 250-350 mm [7,8]. There are some special cases when a melted borehole should be very large, e.g., the required hole diameter in the IceCube project was as large as 0.6 m to deploy the digital optical modules [10]. The WISSARD project also required large-diameter holes (1 m) for the deployment of large scientific payloads, such as the Sub-Ice Rover [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Parameters of Hot-Water Drilling Systems

Liu

Тalalay

Wang

et al. 2019

Water

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Currently, hot-water drill systems are actively used to observe ocean cavities under ice shelves, detect the effects of climate change on glaciers, retrieve sub-ice seabed samples, study the internal ice structure with video imaging, log temperatures, measure deformations within ice, determine basal sliding velocity, provide clean access to subglacial lakes, and many other scientific applications. The main parameters of hot-water drilling systems in any configuration are flow rate, delivery pressure, and temperature of the delivered water. The controlled outcome variables are the diameter of the drilled borehole, rate of penetration, power and fuel consumption for ice melting, and refreezing rate of the borehole. The independent variables while drilling are the current/target depth and the temperature of the ice. The paper aims to present a design procedure for hot-water drilling parameters that are necessary to choose appropriate equipment and tools at the planning stage.

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“…Figure 16 illustrates one possible configuration of this type of drill. This particular device was used to drill a large number of holes for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole [29] and is used to make bore holes instead of cores. It is capable of melting ice at much lower temperatures than the coring drill because its purpose is to simply melt water for removal rather than cutting a core that must be preserved in its solid form.…”

Section: Electrothermal Drillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A water rich mars surface mission scenario

Hoffman

Andrews

Joosten³

et al. 2017

2017 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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-In an on-going effort to make human Mars missions more affordable and sustainable, NASA continues to investigate the innovative leveraging of technological advances in conjunction with the use of accessible Martian resources directly applicable to these missions. One of the resources with the broadest utility for human missions is water. Many past studies of human Mars missions assumed a complete lack of water derivable from local sources. However, recent advances in our understanding of the Martian environment provides growing evidence that Mars may be more "water rich" than previously suspected. This is based on data indicating that substantial quantities of water are mixed with surface regolith, bound in minerals located at or near the surface, and buried in large glacier-like forms. This paper describes an assessment of what could be done in a "water rich" human Mars mission scenario. A description of what is meant by "water rich" in this context is provided, including a quantification of the water that would be used by crews in this scenario. The different types of potential feedstock that could be used to generate these quantities of water are described, drawing on the most recently available assessments of data being returned from Mars. This paper specifically focuses on sources that appear to be buried quantities of water ice. (An assessment of other potential feedstock materials is documented in another paper.) Technologies and processes currently used in terrestrial Polar Regions are reviewed. One process with a long history of use on Earth and with potential application on Mars -the Rodriguez Well -is described and results of an analysis simulating the performance of such a well on Mars are presented. These results indicate that a Rodriguez Well capable of producing the quantities of water identified for a "water rich" human mission are within the capabilities assumed to be available on the Martian surface, as envisioned in other comparable Evolvable Mars Campaign assessments. The paper concludes by capturing additional findings and describing additional simulations and tests that should be conducted to better characterize the performance of the identified terrestrial technologies for accessing subsurface ice, as well as the Rodriguez Well, under Mars environmental conditions.

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IceCube Enhanced Hot Water Drill functional description

Cited by 44 publications

References 5 publications

Enabling clean access into Subglacial Lake Whillans: development and use of the WISSARD hot water drill system

Enabling clean access into Subglacial Lake Whillans: development and use of the WISSARD hot water drill system

Design Parameters of Hot-Water Drilling Systems

A water rich mars surface mission scenario

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