THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Jun-Shan Gong

,

Qi-Chen Sun

,

Xiao-Ming Lai

,

Zeng Zhao

,

Hai-Chun Hao

,

Gui-Dong Mo

,

Hai-Bin Yu

,

Ting Zeng

,

Guo-Qing Zhang

,

Qian Li

DESIGN AND VERIFICATION OF A DEEP LUNAR DRILLING ROBOT SYSTEM FOR IN-SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION

ABSTRACT
As deep-space missions evolve from short-term exploration to long-term habitation and resource utilization, lunar exploration is undergoing a strategic shift from "scientific investigation" to "resource development and utilization." Large-scale lunar resource extraction and efficient in-situ utilization have become key technological pathways for sustaining lunar base operations and advancing deep-space exploration. To meet future sampling mission requirements, this paper presents the design and simulation of a lunar deep-subsurface sampling system. Simulation results show that the proposed sampling method requires a drilling torque of only 16 N•m.
KEYWORDS
In-situ resource utilization, Lunar drilling and sampling, Deep drilling, Drilling system
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-07-21
PAPER REVISED: 2025-10-11
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-12-18
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-07-25
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250721137G
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Design and verification of a deep lunar drilling robot system for in-situ resource utilization

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence