lunar drilling

One is on Earth, and one is not. But the knowledge transfer between the oil patch and off-world has fueled meaningful technological advances for all involved.

NASA is undertaking a drilling project on the Moon—the first on any planetary body outside the Earth. The mission’s purpose, collecting subsurface soil and ice samples to search for water beneath the lunar surface, is being compared to collecting core samples on Earth and will use technologies, such as a rotary-percussive drill, that have been adapted from those for h…