Plasma drilling is a deep drilling technology which leverages electrical discharges to fracture rocks and sediments. In this work, plasma drilling is investigated as a performance enhancer for existing thermal-probe technology for use in planetary sub-glacial exploration missions. The hypothesis is that the cracking of ice induced by the spark discharges results in a local reduction of thermal conductivity capable of decreasing the conductive thermal losses that make up the majority of a thermal probe’s power budget in cryogenic ice conditions. Firstly, a simulation pipeline for melt probe performance is adapted to mimic the effects of plasma drilling on the ice surrounding a thermal probe.