ICICLE
Ice Core Integrated Calescent Linear Extractor, (ICICLE), was a Cornell MicroGravity project design to retrieve subsurface cylindrical ice core samples of ½” diameter and 3” height. ICICLE was built to be about the size of a soda can and interface with the BRUIE Buoyant Rover, a JPL robot designed for exploring Europa and other Ocean World surfaces. ICICLE takes an input of 12V to actuate and heat a thermal drill which retrieves cylindrical ice samples of NASA specified dimensions. The thermal drill allows for optimal under ice sample retrieval with a minimal administered buoyant force due to the efficiency of the thermal collection method.
I was in charge of the design and manufacturing of the thermal drill. The thermal drill is heated using electric heating pads attached to a metal cylinder. A ceramic sleeve inside the metal cylinder protects a collected ice sample from the heated metal cylinder. The thermal drill raises and lowers out of the electronics chamber via a connected stepper motor. The metal cylinder and ceramic sleeve were hand-machined on the mill and lathe at Cornell University.
