Unleashed Robotics, a Washington state-based company and Tier-1 partner of the Mars Technology Institute (MTI), established by the Mars Society to advance technologies needed for the human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, has been selected by NASA for negotiation for a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award. The six-month project will advance the company’s innovative robotic core-drilling technology for future planetary exploration.

The project, “Iris Core Cutter and Retention Mechanism for Stratigraphy-Preservation,” will focus on technology for Unleashed Robotics’ tetherless Borebots™, autonomous drilling robots designed for subsurface exploration on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Its diamond-tipped spherical iris cutter is designed to extract and retain cores while preserving scientifically valuable layers in rock, ice, and materials such as lunar and Martian regolith.

Unleashed Robotics credits its collaboration with MTI with helping catalyze its FractalMining™ approach, adapting technology originally developed for Mars drilling to critical-mineral prospecting on Earth while continuing to pursue applications for lunar and Martian resource exploration. Through its partnership with MTI, the company benefits from resource sharing, investor networking, and collaboration within a growing coalition of Mars-focused technology companies.

The NASA selection follows a recent Canadian Space Agency subcontract awarded to Unleashed Robotics through SpaceDIRT, further expanding the company’s work in next-generation space-resource and subsurface exploration technologies.

Find additional details about the project on the Unleashed Robotics website, and be sure to visit the Mars Technology Institute online to learn more about its growing network of Mars-focused technology partners.