Structural analysis of 3D printed a lattice structure for lunar lander footpads

Paper number

IAC-18,C2,9,8,x44318

Author

Mr. Andrea Mazza, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Mr. Carlo Giovanni Ferro, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Ms. Sara Varetti, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Mr. Andrea Emanuele Maria Casini, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Prof. Paolo Maggiore, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Dr. Salvatore Brischetto, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Coauthor

Prof. Mariangela Lombardi, Italy, Politecnico di Torino

Year

2018

Abstract

Planetary exploration has been always considered as one of the biggest dream achieved by humankind: the innate willingness to study the universe is a fundamental part of the human natural instincts to be drawn by the unknown. Considering the new renaissance era of space exploration currently experienced by both space and non-space related entities, such as national agencies and private companies, the rising interest for Moon science is driving the future missions targets towards the exploitation of the cislunar space and lunar terrain. If both crewed and unmanned spacecraft are envisioned by the strategic international exploration plans, surface landers will play a major role in delivering payloads for scientific data measurement.
The scope of this paper is to study the classical design solutions for a landing gear system of a lunar probe and to enhance them using modern manufacturing technologies. Since 3D printing techniques are the future production trend, they have been adopted for this research work, especially because they can realize impossible structures with respect to traditional methods. In particular, a sandwich footpad has been analysed both using static and dynamic structural loads, and comparing different core configurations. Lattice geometries have been tested during simulations instead of the classical aluminium honeycomb composites.
This project provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of negative Poisson ratio non-stochastic cells. Additionally, experimental data complemented the results obtained from the finite element method analyses.

Abstract document

IAC-18,C2,9,8,x44318.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

(absent)