Microwave Bessel beam launcher for high penetration planetary drilling operations

The adoption of non-diffracting Bessel beams is proposed in this work to realize a near-field concentrator with high penetration depth, to be successfully integrated in drilling tools used for planetary surfaces exploration. The design, realization and test of a microwave Bessel beam launcher is discussed, and preliminary experimental results on analog rock materials are reported, which reveal beneficial effects for drilling operations.