A simulation study on a digging-typed lunar soil sampling device and its sampling characteristics based on discrete element method

Abstract

Lunar soil sampling is an important task for lunar probe. It is the premise of the analysis of lunar soil and the study of lunar environment and evolutional history. Lunar soil sampling techniques have different classifications according to different standards. In view of goals of China's lunar exploration sampling project, a design of digging-typed lunar soil sampling device based on the mechanical arm is proposed in this paper. Mechanical characteristics of digging sampling process are analyzed in EDEM as well. Analysis results based on discrete element method show the compressive stress distribution of lunar soil particles during the digging process, vertical force and horizontal force of the sampling device during the digging process and the weight of samples in one sampling action. These simulation results prove the feasibility of the sampling device and lay the foundation for China's manned lunar exploration in the future. 978-1-4673-9675-2/15/$31.00 © 2015 IEEE