Cheese Grater Sampler

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

My design draws inspiration from a cheese-grater (hence the name) in its method of drawing samples from the ground. The cheese-grater sampler will be dragged forward across the ground (preferably by a robotic arm, but with some alterations to the last stage of collection [deposit stage], this may be done by attachment to a moving rover). This movement will draw rocks of maximum 2cm diameter (at their largest part) up through the sampler into the second section (sifter). As all collected regolith passes over this section and down to the last section (weighing station), all rocks and dust smaller than 1cm diameter (at their largest part) will fall into the dust chamber. The remaining rocks in the sample will collect at the weighing station, which will measure the mass of the sample (by measuring the relative weight of the sample in the moon’s gravity). Once the threshold mass of is reached, indicating an approximate number of 10-20 1-2cm rocks on the scale, the command will be given to cease collection stage and begin deposit stage.

Deposit stage will involve tilting the entire apparatus (done by robotic arm or by separate lifting and rotating component if attached directly to a rover) towards the collection container side of the apparatus by approximately 70 degrees. This will be done slowly, and will be accompanied by the activation of a small motor attached to the base of the collection container holder, which will rotate the collection container. This rotation will allow an even distribution of rocks (of >1cm) to small rocks/dust (<1cm), as they will be deposited in two overlapping spiralling layers. This depositing technique is designed to negate the need for additional mechanics to separate and control the deposit of separate layers, and thus removes some complexity from the system.

Based on the volume of the design calculated with the density of aluminium, the apparatus will be a little over weight at 602 grams including the 17 gram motor and 1 gram pressure sensor. The motor and pressure sensor will run well under the maximum power of 30 watts.

This is a first run at the design and I will continue to make improvements, as well as reduce the overall mass.