Space Missions Engineering Laboratory

In-Situ Drilling and Sampling

Our current research activities in this field are focused on the operations management of SD2, Sampler, Drill and Distribution Subsystem, that is one of the instruments on-board the lander Philae of the ESA Rosetta Mission, and on the modelling of the drilling process. (visit the dedicated website)

Concerning SD2, after the rendez-vous with comet P67/Churuymov-Gerasimenko, Philae will be released through soft landing at the surface of the nucleus and will perform some several in-situ experiments. SD2 system is of primary importance for the lander mission since it is in charge of collecting comet’s soil samples at different depths and of distributing them to different instruments for scientific analysis. Moreover, SD2 must cope with very stringent requirements in terms of volume, mass and power consumptions, operative ranges and severe environmental conditions. Rosetta mission goals include the determination of the elementary and mineralogical compositional, the identification of traces elements, and isotopic composition of cometary material from the surface and subsurface. Comet’s surface strength, density, texture, porosity, ice phases and thermal properties will also be investigated together with soil structure through microscopic observations of individual grains.

 

A test-facility has been realized in our laboratory to operate in a more realistic way and to experience the drill (deep drill and surface drills) behaviour in different environmental scenarios. The facility is equipped with a sensor system to measure the drill cinematic behaviour, with a translation system to simulate all possible conditions of soil surface (for example the eventual presence of rises or of depressions), and also with some specimens having the same structural characteristics of the space body soil. Thanks to this facility configuration it is possible to simulate the same mechanical conditions that will be found during the in-situ phase. This facility is an optimum verification tool of column drill performances and kinematics behaviour.

 

The test facility designed and realized in order to simulate all possible mission scenarios has different tasks:

  • Mechanical verification of the perforation system;
  • analysis of the drill structural behaviour;
  • force and torque measures transmitted by the drill to the different specimens;
  • simulation of many different conditions of comet soil;
  • mechanical verification of sampling and collecting methods;
  • verification of the real behaviour of the SD2 flight spare (FS) during the Mission Plan implementation;
  • development of drilling strategies;
  • development of non common activities (NCA) procedures;
  • implementation of contingency operations (operational requirements changes, malfunctions, anomalies, etc.).

 

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