NASA's RASSOR 3.0 Bucket Drum

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

DESCRIPTION:

• This bucket drum is the combination of NASA’s RASSOR 1.0 and RASSOR 2.0.
• The design is also inspired by the bucket wheel of the world’s largest excavator machine (The Bagger 288).
• It is designed with keeping the weight, dimensional specs, fill capacity, fill rate, holding and unloading regolith efficiently, manufacturability and simplicity in mind.

CONSTRUCTION:

• Designed on: Solidworks
• Rendered on: Solidworks Photoview 360
• It consists of a bucket drum, although it’s separated in 4 parts in the render and the model, it can be made into a single piece or 4 pieces depending on the manufacturing process (recommend to 3D print the bucket drum in one piece for simplicity).

MATERIALS USED:

• Scoop blades: Titanium (Ti-6AI-4V)
• Side blades: Titanium (Ti-6AI-4V)
• Bucket drum: Carbon fiber
• Side cap: Carbon fiber

WORKING:

• When the bucket rotates clockwise it scoops up regolith from the lunar surface and passes between the baffles into the drum chamber.
• There will be no regolith dropout until it fills to its max capacity.
• When the bucket rotates anti-clockwise the unloading begins.
• The gradual reduction of the baffles in radius ensures that larger stones don’t get into the main chamber and saves holding space.
• This bucket is designed to have the least maintenance possible.
• The side cap can be uncovered in case.
• The side blades have grooves to have a grip on rocks while scaling tough terrain and it also helps in guiding and cutting through the regolith.

SPECIFICATIONS ACHIEVED:

• Width of scoop: under 175 mm
• Maximum bucket drum mass: 4.55 kg
• Maximum bucket drum Diameter: 450 mm
• Maximum bucket drum length: 360 mm
• Max volume of regolith captured: max 37.18 - 40 liters
• Fill ratio: close to 80%
• Wall thickness (sub to change): 1.50 mm

Note: The appearance and the logos in the renders is for visual representation only and the model is neither owned nor sponsored by any company.

I would like to thank GRABCAD for this opportunity; it has been a great learning experience accomplishing this challenge.

THANK YOU ALL FOR VISITING! :)