Sentences with phrase «sterile drilling fluid»
As the drill made its way down, it melted, filtered, boiled, pasteurized and UV - treated glacial ice and then used it as sterile drilling fluid.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/ Not exact matches
Unlike space probes, which pass through sterile space, ice drills must pass through thousands of feet of glacial ice loaded with microbes before they reach their target; therefore a microbial buildup on equipment and drilling fluids is «inevitable.»
The team will switch drill bits from the large one that takes ice cores as it goes to a smaller one only a few centimetres in diameter, which will melt its way down using a sterile silicone fluid.