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1 Kayser-Threde GmbH w w w . k a y s e r t h r e d e . c o m Kayser-Threde GmbH w w w . k a y s e r t h r e d e . c o m w e . c r e a t e . s p a c e . The ExoMars Sample Handling and Distribution Subsystem (SPDS) L. Richter, P. Hofmann, Q. Mühlbauer, R. Paul, D. Redlich (Kayser-Threde GmbH, Munich, Germany), S.J. Antony (University of Leeds, UK) Pietro Baglioni and Stephen Durrant, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands Fabio Musso, Thales Alenia Space, Torino, Italy ISTVS 7 th Americas Regional Conference, 4 - 7 November 2013 Space Industrial Applications

The ExoMars Sample Handling and Distribution Subsystem (SPDS)

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Kayser-Threde GmbH, Space Industrial Applications. Paper 78997_0

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1

Kayser-Threde GmbH

w w w . k a y s e r – t h r e d e . c o m

Kayser-Threde GmbH

w w w . k a y s e r – t h r e d e . c o m

w e . c r e a t e . s p a c e .

The ExoMars Sample Handling and Distribution Subsystem

(SPDS)

L. Richter, P. Hofmann, Q. Mühlbauer, R. Paul, D. Redlich (Kayser-Threde

GmbH, Munich, Germany), S.J. Antony (University of Leeds, UK)

Pietro Baglioni and Stephen Durrant, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Fabio Musso, Thales Alenia Space, Torino, Italy

ISTVS 7th Americas Regional Conference, 4 - 7 November 2013

Space

Industrial Applications

2

Overview

Recent results from on-going development of Sample Processing

and Distribution Subsystem (SPDS) for ExoMars rover

Programmatic plans for evolutions of SPDS design targeted to

other missions

Development activities on regolith sampling devices

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ESA ExoMars 2018 Rover Mission

The ExoMars Rover

carries a drill to collect rock and soil core samples from the Mars

surface and underground (depth down to 2m)

accommodates the Analytical Laboratory Drawer (ALD) with the

‘Pasteur’ Payload, a set of instruments for the search of extant and

extinct life on Mars, and the Sample Preparation and Distribution

System

Credit: ESA

Credit: TAS-I

5

The SPDS receives Mars rock and soil drill core samples from the Rover drill tool and

prepares and presents them to the various analytical instruments.

The SPDS acts as the interface between the drill which is mounted to the outside of the

Rover, and the following ‘Pasteur’ instruments in the Rover Analytical Laboratory Drawer:

Raman Spectrometer (RLS)

MicrOmega Infrared Microscope (MIRU)

Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA)

– Gas Chromatograph (GC)

– Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometer (LD-MS)

The sample path and a major part of the SPDS is

located within a sealed enclosure in the Rover/ALD

(Ultra-clean Zone).

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The ExoMars Sample Preparation and Distribution System (SPDS)

Blank Sample Dispenser

Transport

Mechanism

Drill deposits

Mars sample

Crushing Station

Carousel

Dosing Station

Positioner

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Core Sample Handling Mechanism (CSHS)

The CSHS consists of

Core Sample Transportation

Mechanism (CSTM)

– input interface for transfer of the

core samples from drill to

Rover/ALD

– opens/closes the door of the

ALD and Ultra-clean Zone

– transports and delivers the

samples to Crushing Station

Blank Sample Dispenser (BSD)

– stores six ‘blank samples’ and

dispenses them into the

Crushing Station when needed

CSHS

ALD/UCZ

front door

Sample

container

CSTM breadboard

BSD design

7

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Crushing Station (CS)

Miniature jaw crusher, crushes raw

samples from drill to produce

powder or small grain samples for

further analysis by the Pasteur

instruments

If a sample cannot be

crushed/processed it will be

released by opening the jaws (de-

jamming mechanism) and dumped

into a ‘waste bin’

Design recently enhanced by

addition of a Vibration / Shock

Mechanism (VSM)

Material Input

Material Output

Material Input

Material Output

Dimensions < 130 x 125 x 155 mm

Elegant BB

8

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Powdered Sample Dosing and Distribution System (PSDDS)

Two (redundant) dosing units are

mounted on a rotating arm, can be

positioned either under the Crushing

Station or over the carousel.

The dosing units dispense sample

powder in amounts of 0.1 ml per

dosing step.

The dosing function employs a

revolving wheel with hollow pockets

of defined volume which are filled

with the sample material.

Piezo vibrators are used to ease

sample discharging and cleaning

rotation

Dosing units

Positioner

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Powder Sample Handling System (PSHS)

PSHS receives powder samples

from Dosing Station and presents

them to the Pasteur instruments in

– Refillable container (RC)

– Pyrolysis ovens (MOMA GC)

Powder sample surface in RC is

flattened by passing a flat blade

over sample

Samples are positioned with high

accuracy, relative to instrument

viewing ports (MOMA LD-MS,

MIRU)

Sample handling under ultra-clean

conditions in the Ultra-clean Zone

PSHS carousel

Flattening blade

Cleaning blade

Dosing funnel

Camera

Laser sensor

Orientation point

Waste container

MOMA

Camera

RC

PSHS elegant breadboard

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Effect of Mars Gravity

SPDS mechanisms rely on the action of gravity in the flow of granular samples from one mechanism to the next

Combination of testing on parabolic flights and numerical simulations applied to capture and understand effects of reduced gravity

Modelling approach chosen in simulations: DEM (Discrete Element Method)

Latest parabolic flight campaign: December 2012 (by Technical University of Munich): series of different 2D shapes of the PSDDS Dosing Station hoppers at simulated Mars and lunar gravity, with sample holders and powders exposed to Mars atmospheric pressure

Simulation and testing: shown to agree in trends of sample mass flow as function of hopper shape and dimensions, leading to implementation of moderate design changes

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Still from December 2012 TUM /

LRT parabolic flight experiment with

2D hoppers (set of 3 hoppers

of different throat diameters is

visible) (credit: P. Reiss, TUM / LRT)

SPDS DS funnel:

DEM simulation

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Effect of Mars Gravity

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DEM results on effect of friction

coefficient between hopper wall

material (steel) and grains on

average mass flow rate

DEM results on effect of slit

opening size on average mass

flow rate of particles

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SPDS Test Models and Test Campaigns

Breadboards of all four SPDS mechanisms and an engineering model of the Crushing

Station have been built for test purposes.

Functional tests were performed at ambient laboratory conditions, at low temperature in a

thermal chamber and in a simulated Mars environment

(-50…-60°C, 5…10 mbar CO2) in the Mars Simulation Laboratory of the University of

Aarhus (Denmark).

SPDS end-to-end test (E2E): successfully performed in spring of 2013 involving all SPDS

mechanisms into a combined assembly

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Basalt

sample

Crushing

Station EM (~ 2.8 kg)

13

Laboratory Setup to Test the SPDS End-to-end (E2E) Sample Handling Chain

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SPDS End-to-end (E2E) Test Setup SPDS Mechanisms

Main test goals (initial phase):

“Learn” to operate the

individual mechanisms in

a ‘chain event’

SPDS functions, sample

transfer efficiency

Tests in Mars simulated

environment (T, p, CO2)

Sample

Dispenser

Camera

Tilting

Mechanism

14

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Laboratory Test Setup for SPDS End-to-end (E2E) Performance Testing

E2E test setup

equipped with

additional external

sensors for

precise position

measurements

of sample tray /

ovens

powder sample

surface flatness

(laser scan)

15

E2E Test Results

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Scenes from E2E

ambient testing

(January 2013)

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E2E Test Results

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Close-up of PSDDS sample inlet

hopper with crushed ‘coarse

sand’ having accumulated (outlet

funnel of CS is visible at top)

Crushing progress of gypsum sample in Mars environment;

view is from the top into the CS, showing the gap between

fixed and moving jaws

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E2E Test Results

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ICY20GLAS ICY10GLAS ICY10GLAS ICY20Mar

s N

igh

t

ICY20

Surface profile after flattening

crushed ‘coarse sand’ sample in

RC in Mars environment (2D

laser sensor profiling)

Dosing of crushed ‘icy’ sample in

Mars environment

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E2E Test Results 1/2

Testing at both ambient and in simulated Mars environment: very successful

Comprehensive test plan: sample processing and powder delivery tests on all ExoMars drill & SPDS reference materials plus ‘icy’ samples

cores of different rock types in format expected from the ExoMars drill

several Mars regolith (soil-like materials) simulants, some of them doped with Magnesium sulfate and perchlorate salts in concentrations known to exist in the regolith of Mars

ice-containing samples (investigated specifically in Mars environment), produced by freezing a mixture of one of the regolith simulants with 10 and 20 wt-% of water, respectively

CS grain size requirement on fines generated by crushing: fulfilled for the reference materials

Dosing of sample powder: shown to be very repeatable and fulfilling the requirement

Flattening of the sample powder in the RC tray, and its subsequent removal: fulfilling the requirement

PSHS carousel positioning performance: fulfilling the requirement, both at ambient and in Mars environment

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E2E Test Results 2/2

Successfully processed ice-rich regolith samples (in Mars environment):

Crushing

dosing of powder (with intermediate storage)

Caking of sample powder on jaws of the Crushing Station (CS): observed to be overall

higher than expected, both at ambient and in Mars environment: has led to decision

to implement a hammering mechanism (VSM) into the CS design baseline

In particular in Mars environment, sample powder was observed to adhere to PSDDS

dosing unit hopper internal surfaces to a larger extent than at ambient (probably due to

triboelectric charging), being in line with observations on prior Mars missions with

sample acquisition and handling

primary mitigation measure in design: implement a stronger powder agitation by the

PSDDS piezo actuators by implementing a higher piezo supply voltage

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Conclusions

Automated sample handling for planetary landing missions:

Always closely associated with sample acquisition

Relevant for in situ as well as sample return missions

Needs to address: reduced gravity, powder adherence (cross contamination),

mechanisms in (self-generated) dusty environment

Kayser-Threde developing ExoMars SPDS (sample handling and distribution S/S)

Recent major achievement: successful end-to-end (E2E) testing of SPDS BB‘s /

EM‘s at ambient and Mars environment

In development for flight in 2018

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Acknowledgement

The work reported in this paper was performed by Kayser-Threde (Germany) under

contract to Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-I), the ExoMars mission prime, and Selex

Electronics Systems with funding from the European Space Agency.

Several external entities contributed as a project partners.

The authors wish to thank ESA and TAS-I.