Guido's 3Do's| Virtual Planetary Exploration
Virtual Planetary Exploration
The Revolutionary Hammer
Summary
We modernised a hammer into a very efficient tool which aids the astronauts in their space exploration activities by tackling all the major problems and reducing it to being none. The current hammer or do I say, the 50 year old hammer which is still being planned on getting used in the 2024 Artemis mission still has basic problems that have been overlooked by the years and are still being done so. It has problem with the grip, we have improved that.It uses a lot of wrist action by the astronaut, we have reduced that to a large extent.It keeps falling down, we wont let that happen again.Astronauts do not know how much force they put, we make sure that all the force is rightly directed.
How We Addressed This Challenge
We developed a very simple mechanical tool. A simple support tool system. Its a simple extension from the handle of the hammer which provides support to the fist of the astronaut holding it. The size of the extension can be adjustable to the girth of the fingers of the astronauts glove. This particular extension can come out and go in from within the hammers handle. We also devised various mechanical systems by which this particular extension can be attached to the hammers handle. We also provided grooves on the extension of the model for grip.
The material to be used for the hammer will be stainless steel or aluminium and the material for the extension will be hard rubber similar to that of RTF-157 used in astronauts gloves.
The head of the hammer has a rotating mechanism inbuilt, allowing us more flexibility during its operation.
The various systems that could be incorporated are:
1) A push-stop button with springs attached inside that would help the extension come out.
2) A simple stopper-hinge attachment.
3) A gear mechanism.
This extension aims to provide a support similar to that of holding the hammer with two hands while doing the job to reduce the wrist action and complete the job faster by applying a rightly directed force.
With this, the astronaut wouldn't have to worry about the hammer falling and wastage of time due to pointless application of extra force.
How We Developed This Project
We looked through all the basic tools used in space exploration and decided to start with something really basic. We had a lot of sample designs and configuring the best and most effective one was one of the major problems. We designed the entire model on blender. And we uploaded it on a platform for 3D model depiction called modelo. But still figuring out the grip and curvature was one of the most difficult tasks.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
We went through the entire papers of the Apollo kits and lunar module programme. We went through each and every tool and how they work. We also gained a lot of insights on the materials actually used for the jobs to be done in space and the challenges faced by the astronauts in EVAs. We also researched more on the lifestyle of astronauts in space and how that is different from that on earth. We learnt a lot about radiation and how magnets being the most advantageous of all are not preferably used in space. We learnt a lot about the stages of the upcoming Artemis programme and the experiments to be conducted on the lunar soil. We also gained a lot of insights on spacesuits.
Project Demo
https://therandomwebpages.github.io/NSAC-Guido-s-3Do-s/hammer.html