Opposed bucket drums
Two hollow drums cut in opposite directions so their horizontal reactions largely cancel. Articulated arms control shallow skim depth, lift the load and reverse to unload.
MEET THE MACHINE / S01 SURFACE HARVESTERTHE
THE
SCOOP.
A proposed autonomous quarry rover that turns an approved patch of ground into a measured, traceable feed lot. Counter-rotating drums gather bulk loose material. The BorePod drills only when depth information is worth the energy.
STATUSA0 conceptEarth rig first
PRIMARY METHODShallow drum skimNot bulk boring
FIRST GATE20 t enduranceBefore flight freeze
CARRIED PER CYCLE75–100 kg
LOOSE COLLECTION100–170 kg/h
SCREENED RELEASE60–120 kg/h
ENERGY TARGET≤20 Wh/kg
SKIM FOR MASS.
BORE FOR TRUTH.
A 100 mm × 1 m bore contains only about 12.6 kg at 1,600 kg/m³ bulk density. Gathering a tonne by drilling would require roughly eighty ideal full-depth holes before losses. Shallow bucket-drum passes are the credible bulk path; boring is reserved for samples, hard layers and ground truth.
01 / MACHINE ANATOMYA QUARRY ROVER.
A QUARRY ROVER.
WITH A DRILL.
Scoop separates bulk gathering, depth investigation and feed qualification so one jam or bad lot does not contaminate the full construction process.
BorePod cassette
A belly-stowed rotary-percussive tool collects depth-resolved samples and investigates hardpan, cemented soil or volatile-sensitive layers in controlled increments.
Survey + autonomy
Stereo vision, LiDAR, inertial sensing, wheel state and tool loads maintain the local terrain map, material cell identity and energy-safe route.
Payload accounting
Arm loads and calibrated lift current estimate carried mass. Every excavation cell, sample and delivered lot receives a traceable material passport.
Prep Dock interface
LiDAR, fiducials and a compliant funnel guide docking. The rover reverses the drums into a stationary hopper without free-dumping near the process equipment.
Fault-first tooling
Replaceable cutting lips, sealed drives, reversible screens and accessible cassettes make jams, wear and contaminated lots planned operating states.
02 / STEP-BY-STEP USEFROM GROUND CELL
FROM GROUND CELL
TO RELEASED FEED.
The useful output is not “dirt.” It is a known mass from a known location, processed to a known envelope with every reject accounted for.
Assay
Scan the quarry cell and use the BorePod only where depth evidence changes the excavation or material plan.
Authorize
Release a shallow cut depth, payload mass, keep-outs, energy reserve and route to the preparation dock.
Harvest
Advance slowly while fore and aft drum torque remain balanced; lift or back out when reaction or slope exceeds limits.
Weigh
Raise both drums, estimate payload from calibrated loads and stop collection at the ordered batch mass.
Haul
Verify ground clearance and follow the energy-safe corridor while preserving the source-cell identity.
Dock
Approach the P01 Prep Dock under fiducial and force guidance, then reverse the drums into its scalping hopper.
Qualify
P01 rejects oversize, screens the candidate fraction and measures released feed; rejected mass keeps its own destination record.
Return
Inspect lips and seals, clear faults, recharge if required and route back to the next released cell.
03 / TARGET SPECIFICATIONSMALL ENOUGH
SMALL ENOUGH
TO LEARN FAST.
S01 begins as an Earth analog demonstrator. Every target must be measured in representative simulant before a vacuum or flight configuration is frozen.
Stowed envelope2.0–2.4 × 1.2–1.5 × 0.8–1.1 m
Dry rover mass145–235 kg incl. BorePod
Drum diameter300–430 mm
Combined cutting width0.65–0.90 m
Controlled skim cut10–20 mm / pass
Carried per cycle75–100 kg target
Loose collection100–170 kg/h target
Released screened feed60–120 kg/h target
Bore cartridge60–100 mm Ø / 1.0 m depth
Average / peak power1–2 kW / 3–5 kW
Energy target≤20 Wh/kg screened over 50 m
Durability gate≥20 t before flight freeze
04 / INPUTS + OUTPUTSEVERY LOAD
EVERY LOAD
KEEPS ITS IDENTITY.
The preparation dock—not Scoop alone—decides whether harvested material becomes released feed.
REQUIRED INPUTS
Before the drums turn.
- Mission mapReleased excavation cells, prohibited zones, route, dock location and emergency return corridor.
- Cut orderTarget mass, depth, advance rate, source identity and permissible tool-reaction envelope.
- PowerCharged battery, thermal limits and a reserve forecast that closes the full return route.
- ToolsInspected bucket lips, selected BorePod cartridge and known screen cassette at P01.
- Acceptance rulesGradation, composition, moisture or volatile controls, contamination limits and reject destinations.
SYSTEM OUTPUTS
What the cell receives.
- Candidate feedMeasured loose material delivered in discrete traceable lots to the preparation dock.
- Released fractionScreened mass inside the selected recipe envelope after P01 acceptance.
- Depth samplesInstrumented BorePod cartridges tied to exact location and penetration history.
- Terrain changeUpdated cut geometry, obstacle map and residual slope for route and quarry planning.
- Reject recordOversize, suspect or contaminated material held outside the qualified feed stream.
05 / THREE ENVIRONMENTSEARTH FIRST.
EARTH FIRST.
THEN REDESIGN.
Flight hardware is not an environmental coating on the Earth demonstrator. Each world changes traction, sealing, thermal survival, power and material rules.
Analog field rover
A first demonstrator can move simulant, map energy and wear, validate material accounting and support mining or construction-research yards under teleoperation and supervised autonomy.
See the test gates ↗Regolith feedstock courier
A flight-derived Scoop would map, skim and deliver local regolith for screening, compaction or selective fusion. Vacuum drives, dust control, thermal survival and lander interfaces are new requirements.
Run the lunar loop ↗Distributed quarry scout
A Mars configuration would gather dry local mass, identify hardpan and haul qualified lots between quarry cells and the field factory while operating through communication delay.
Operate Scoop on Mars ↗06 / RECOVERY LOGICJAMS ARE
JAMS ARE
A DESIGN CASE.
Useful autonomy is the ability to recognize when to back out, preserve evidence and ask for a new plan—not the confidence to push through every fault.
Uneven bite
Lift the overloaded drum, reduce advance and re-enter with a shallower cut.
Hidden boulder
Stop, reverse, map a keep-out and send oversize to a separate civil-fill stream.
Blind screen
Pause, reverse, tap or brush. Never push harder into an unclassified jam.
Seized BorePod
Stop rotation, pulse percussion, reverse and withdraw in staged increments.
Lost localization
Raise tools, stop and relocalize against surveyed references before any new cut.
Low reserve
Abort the new cut, raise both drums and return to the utility or charging pallet.
BUILD THE DRUM RIG.
BREAK IT ON EARTH.
The next defensible hardware is not a lunar rover. It is an instrumented drum and BorePod program, then an S01-ET field demonstrator coupled to P01 so energy, wear, screening, recovery and material genealogy can be measured end to end.