Illustrative, not to scale. Intended-function schematic for TRIDENT in PRIME-1 on IM-2. Shapes, positions and motion are illustrative. A transparent drive housing exposes the orange hammering marker; this is not its actual internal layout. It does not replay achieved drilling or reconstruct the tipped lander.
The diagram and all explanations work without 3D.
Read the steps below to follow the intended function.
Component descriptions are below.
Motion is illustrative; speeds, particle amounts and travel are not measurements. In 3D: drag to rotate; on touch screens, use two fingers to rotate and zoom, one to scroll the page. Mouse wheel scrolls the page.
Intended function — not a flight replay
- Extend toward a sampling position
The intended sequence brings the drill toward the surface. The schematic's travel has no depth scale.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon - Rotate and hammer
Rotation and percussion are distinct drilling motions. The view exaggerates both so their difference is visible.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon - Intended surface cuttings
The design intended to deliver drill cuttings to the surface for analysis. Do not read this step as an achieved drilled-sample result.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon - Analyze nearby gases
MSOLO is a separate gas-analysis instrument. Its reported scans are described below; no lunar-water result is animated here.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon · NASA: PRIME-1 on IM-2
Movements worked; the mission goals were not accomplished
NASA reports auger rotation, full-range extension, percussion, heater operation and temperature sensing during the shortened mission after Athena rested on its side. The PRIME-1 overview says the instruments did not accomplish their science, exploration and technology goals. Individual movements do not establish successful drilled-sample acquisition.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon · NASA: PRIME-1 on IM-2Limits of the result. MSOLO scanned gases; NASA's initial interpretation attributed them to human sources. These reports do not establish indigenous lunar water detection. Heater and sensor locations are shown only as a callout, and no bore depth is claimed.
Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moonanthropogenic, or human in originSources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon
What each part does
- Rotary and percussive drive
- Rotation turns the auger; percussion adds a hammering action. The actuator arrangement is illustrative. Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon
- Auger and extension
- The auger can extend toward a sampling position. Extension travel and tool length do not establish a lunar bore depth. Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon
- Heater and thermal sensors
- NASA reports an embedded core heater and internal thermal sensors. This callout does not claim their exact positions. Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon
- MSOLO (separate instrument)
- MSOLO measures nearby gas composition. There is no solid-sample pipe from the drill to this schematic instrument. Sources: NASA: Lunar Drill Technology Passes Tests on the Moon · NASA: PRIME-1 on IM-2
What the schematic leaves out
This example covers PRIME-1's TRIDENT, not every drill or VIPER. Actual actuator layout, extension mechanics, heater and sensor locations, motion rates and sample-release geometry are not reconstructed.
PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1) · Compare the three mechanisms in 3D · Explore PlanetVac · Explore TAGSAM · How MOXIE made oxygen · Compare what each demonstrated
Sources behind this explanation
Source-based explanation; viewing it does not recheck or change the mission record.