Low Force Sample Acquisition System

1
Low Force Sample Acquisition System

• Description
• Develop a sample acquisition system capable of
  retrieving a 1 cm³ sample of soil, rock, or ice
  from the Martian surface, subsurface, or a
  borehole.
• Make the system usable on a wide variety of
  platforms including robotic arms, large and small
  rovers, and drills.
• Incorporate the above features while making the
  system smaller, lighter, draw less power, and
  require less applied force than current systems.
• Provide a device with a TRL of 8.

Funding Profile (K)
Technology Tasks Principal Investigator Scot
t Stanley/Alliance Spacesystems,
Inc. Co-Investigator/Science PI Dr. David
Paige/UCLA Collaborator Dr. T. C. Ng/Hong
Kong Polytechnic University
FY03-FY05 Critical Milestones FY04 Drill bit and
motor design and characterization sample bin
design and initial testing test plan design
rock sample procurement FY05 Fabrication,
procurement and assembly of full sample
acquisition system functional testing with soil,
rocks, ice samples environmental test life
test Mars Testbed operation
2
Major Milestones

• FY 04
• System Design Review 08/27/04
• FY 05
• System Assembly Completion 01/24/05
• System Test Completion 03/25/05
• Life Test Completion 06/17/05
• Simulate Mars Testing 12/05/05

3
Technical Accomplishments

• Initial effort reviewed current Mars state of the
  art and relevant commercial practice
• Drill Bits
• Hammer Drills
• Commercial bits using candidate Mars
  configurations procured
• Commercial hammer drill modified
• Force and speed now adjustable
• Integrated with programmable power supply
• Test bed and initial drill tooling complete
• First rock samples procured and initial drilling
  evaluations underway

4
Technical Accomplishments

• Initial tests determining best combinations of
  bit configuration, hammer force, and rotational
  speed for drilling representative rock samples
• Design of the three primary components in system
  (bits, drill, sample bin) initiated and will be
  refined based on test results

5
Plans for Next Quarter

• Completion of initial drill and bit evaluations
• Completion of baseline design including
• Drill
• Custom bits
• Storage bin
• Contact sensor
• System Design Review
• Initiate fabrication and procurement of baseline
  LSAS components

6
Financial Summary

• Program is just starting in earnest
• Contract Value 548,301
• Expended as of 7/16/04 48,046