Integrated Mole-carried instrument suites to explore the regolith layers of the Moon and Mars
- Paper number
IAC-06-A5.P.06
- Author
Mr. Riccardo Nadalini, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Lutz Richter, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Prof. Tilman Spohn, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Andrew J. Ball, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Pierre Coste, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Mr. Andreas Grzesik, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Edoardo Re, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Pier Giovanni Magnani, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Jens Romstedt, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Frank Sohl, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Year
2006
- Abstract
A considerable share of the surface of Mars and the Moon is covered by a regolith layer. The physical properties of this soil are a record of the processes that have taken place during and after its deposition. In some locations it may contain the resources needed by robotic or human explorers as for example water, or even signs of extant or past life. The exploration and examination of this region could lead to substantial increase in scientific knowledge and to the discovery of exploitable resources. Unfortunately, access to depths up to a few meters is still a difficult endeavour, since the tools available today are still too bulky and power hungry for the capacity of present missions. In the last decade a new class of regolith exploring tools has been developed: the Moles. Specially designed for the penetration of soils, they are capable to penetrate moderately compact regolith, displacing embedded pebbles and even fracturing small rocks. Compared to tools not optimized for this specific class of materials, Moles are lightweight, require only a low and constant amount of power throughout the penetration, and do not need an assisting force, thus greatly reducing the requirements on the support lander or rover. A first example of a flight-developed Mole system used as a subsurface soil sampling tool has been PLUTO, a retrievable system flown on the Mars Express lander 'Beagle 2'. The trend of current developments follows the concept of instrumented moles, in which specially-designed sensor packages are deployed by a dedicated Mole. While descending and once in place, they perform in-situ measurements of status and properties of the regolith column. They can be then left in place, or retracted and redeployed. Best example is HP3, the measuring package prototyped under ESA support by our team. By measuring the physical properties of the soil, it derives the surface heat flow, delivering a whole set of geophysical information. The trend for the future robotics missions is toward increasing the capabilities of the packaged sensors and of the deploying Moles thus allowing more advanced instruments to be buried deeper. Feasibility studies consider the use of spectrometers of different wavelengths, IR or optical cameras and geo- and biochemical sensors, with a first attention to water detection. In perspective for the far future "Mole rigs", equipped with advanced instrumented moles, could support automated or humans exploration missions, in looking for available resources or in-situ examination of promising sites.
- Abstract document