Evaluation of drilling-based water extraction methods for Martian ISRU from mid-latitude ice resources

Herein the paper presents geological and thermal model of icy regolith created to measure water sampling and production efficiency. Various regolith and volatile sampling systems are standardized and compared using efficiency factor ε. For production purposes, heat transfer is studied for down-hole and beamed energy sources, seeking for an effective heating radius for ice sublimation. Paper concludes with the chosen system for Martian subsurface water acquisition.