Playing Lacrosse on Titan
PROJECT Integrated Sampling System (ISS) for Ocean Worlds SNAPSHOT Honeybee Robotics has developed a pneumatic based sample acquisition and transfer system that is self-metering, gravity agnostic, works with sticky materials, and is flexible in terms of delivery location. The system is designed to operate on planetary bodies both with and without an atmosphere. The DrACO team in the lab at Honeybee Robotics. From left to right: Kris Zacny (PI), Joey Sparta, Bernice Yen, Ralph Lorenz (JHU-APL), Phil Ng, Tighe Costa, Fredrik Rehnmark, Dara Sabahi. The next phase of groundbreaking planetary science requires access to the sub-surface and a means to capture planetary material for analysis. NASA has flown several missions with the goal of acquiring surface material and delivering it to onboard analytical instruments. These surface-sampling architectures relied on gravity to move a sample from a scoop or a drill into an instrument inlet port. This method, however, poses a challenge when dealing with sticky...