Percussive digging systems for robotic exploration and excavation of planetary and lunar regolith

Abstract

A percussive digging system has been demonstrated to decrease the amount of downforce needed to penetrate a given soil, thus reducing the required reaction loads and robot mass. Preliminary testing of a percussive digging system in compacted lunar regolith simulant, JSC-1A, has demonstrated a 15 x (fifteen times) reduction in the downforce necessary to penetrate the regolith. Downforce reductions of this magnitude are sufficient to enable robotic exploration system architectures that would not otherwise be feasible.