Virtual Planetary Exploration
6-PIECE TOOLKIT DESIGNED FOR COLLECTION OF DUST & SOIL SPECIMEN TO ENABLE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTATION
Summary
Full:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Pa0NHYxM9SP0TE-BL4u1bZbdv5cWWqw4aqEz_DhyqM/edit
How We Addressed This Challenge
Our goal, with respect to the problem statement, was to create the next generation of scientific instruments for space exploration and study, incorporating ease to manufacture and assembly principles, at a low unit production cost, that is generally efficient and replaceable. We achieve most if not all our set goals with the designs we finally chose after careful research and painstaking minor changes to the final rendered design. Our designs are deliberately simple, but are absolutely effective. The don't seek to be multi-purpose in its functionality, as that may lead to user error, which cannot be a factor during extra-planetary exploration missions which can be unpredictable whether on Asteroids, Moons or Planets. Therefore reliability, utilizing the least number of moving parts was also a priority, addressing major challenges described by the problem statement.
How We Developed This Project
The 6 piece toolkit was designed entirely from scratch, assessing designs from decades of research in precision tools and also a deep examination of the equipment used by the first Astronauts to ever land on the moon, in 1969 and successive moon expeditions that followed. Initially our team went through quite a few reputed publications, both from peer-reviewed journals and also papers presented at various conferences to understand exactly what we were tasked to accomplish.
We then began deciding our overall goal in developing relevant designs that coincided with our vision to create simple but reliable designs, also promoted by the fact that we had limited amount of time. Therefore, we began to design the basic and intermediate tools first to establish a consistent workflow. This is then compounded by the fact that the designs being developed were simultaneously being rendered and uploaded on our webpage. We took real world statistical data on tool usage around the world and determined the most effective tools and its purposes, and thus designed the complex tools in accordance to our findings.
The final two tools can be considered as power tools, as electronic actuators are used to felicitate the movement of the impact surface. But, their construction remains consist with the rest of the tools designed, utilizing similar Hexagonal hollow structure layout at the grip portion of the tools.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
We went through several NASA documents, that illustrated many different tools previously designed by the agency and used the same as a source of inspiration and general guidance through our design process.
Project Demo
The Tools are displayed on the webpage created during the Hackathon:
https://srmth-nasa-space-challenge.netlify.app/
Data & Resources
All the CAD Models and code created throughout the duration of the Hackathon is stored here in our team's GitHub repository: https://github.com/SahilSanil/NSAC-SRMTH
Some of our Research References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328654914_Prototyping_of_Lunar_surface_geological_sampling_tools_for_Moon_spacewalk_simulations_by_ESA
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323396000_Lunar_Dust_Properties_and_Investigation_Techniques
https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/catalogs/other/jsc23454toolcatalog.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/bp-1_soil_testing.pdf
https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/publications/Robert_Bonitz/2007JE003030.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228562266_A_method_and_tool_for_early_designtechnology_search-space_exploration_for_3D_ICs