Sample Acquisition from Hypothesized Surfaces – Self-Anchoring Mechanism for Oscillating Sample Acquisition (SAMOSA)

INSTITUTION

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT)

CLASS

Platinum Class (2025 – 2026)

STUDENT TEAM

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In the future, NASA scientists may propose to send a mission to extract surface samples from Psyche. Our goal was to prove a novel sample extraction mechanism that could offer benefits over conventional drilling/coring methods in the harsh mission environment, which includes non-uniform, metallic surfaces and low gravity. The design is a rover’s end-of-arm-tool (EOAT) employing an oscillating blade to cut a pyramid-shaped sample and a microspine anchoring system for stabilization. Our prototype was capable of anchoring itself with forces ~6 times greater than the EOAT’s weight on Psyche, and automatically cut samples with an 8 cubic centimeter volume from a variety of silicate and metallic surface analogues.

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This work was created in partial fulfillment of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Capstone Course “ME470”, “ME471″&”ME472”. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.ssl.berkeley.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.