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Review on planetary regolith-sampling technology.

Authors :
Zhang, Tao
Wang, Bin
Wei, Hongyu
Zhang, Yinliang
Chao, Chaoyue
Xu, Kun
Ding, Xilun
Hou, Xuyan
Zhao, Zeng
Source :
Progress in Aerospace Sciences. Nov2021, Vol. 127, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Regolith penetration for placing instruments into ground and regolith-sampling for re-entry or in-situ analysis play an extremely critical role in searching for alien life and revealing the geological information of extraterrestrial bodies. The planetary regolith sampler (PRS), a type of device that can penetrate, collect, transfer, and stow regolith samples, is commonly equipped on a lander or rover in planetary exploration, and is regarded as essential to broaden the application scenarios of planetary robots. Because of their extensive application prospects in deep space exploration, scientists and engineers worldwide have shown great interest in the design and development of such multifunctional devices. However, owing to the significant environmental differences among extraterrestrial bodies, it is challenging to create a full-featured PRS. To date, a large number of PRSs have been designed and developed for terrestrial scientific research or extraterrestrial regolith exploration. The PRSs utilized in previous extraterrestrial regolith-sampling missions and the latest advancements are reviewed in detail. Next, this work classifies the current PRSs into six categories according their sampling methods, namely drilling, excavating/grabbing, projecting, ultrasonic/sonic, pneumatic, and bio-inspired samplers, and summarizes their general characteristics. The challenges and constraints in sampling extraterrestrial bodies, including terrestrial technology, planetary environment, and remote distance, are analyzed and discussed in depth. The critical technologies for PRSs to change from a conceptual stage to a practical prototype are detailed, including design and fabrication, tool–regolith interaction, terrestrial validation, autonomous control, and sample fidelity. Finally, the critical trends of PRS are presented, covering near-term robotic exploration to cover the full geography to long-term human settlements. • A comprehensive review on extraterrestrial regolith-sampling technology. • A historic context of humans beings' activity to explore extraterrestrial regolith. • The challenges and critical technologies in extraterrestrial regolith sampler. • The newest technology advancement and future tendency to sample planetary regolith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
03760421
Volume :
127
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Progress in Aerospace Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
154052294
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2021.100760