Hot-Point Ice Thermal Drills: Design Parameters, Recommendations, and Examples

Hot-point thermal drills are among the simplest and most compact tools for drilling boreholes in ice by melting. They are widely used in glaciological and geophysical research, including subsurface access on Earth and planetary missions. This study focuses on electrically heated hot-point drills. It presents a comparative review of four analytical models commonly used to describe thermal penetration into ice. Our theoretical processing and computation allow for the analysis and optimization of the drilling performance of thermal drill heads. The predictive accuracy of the adapted model was evaluated through comparison with experimental data obtained using the RECAS-200 thermal sonde. Based on the analysis of various sources and calculations using the modified model, a set of recommendations is proposed for early-stage estimation of drilling parameters and assessment of thermal drilling efficiency in the design of hot-point drills for autonomous and resource-constrained missions.