{"id":6813,"date":"2014-03-07T22:20:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T22:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6813"},"modified":"2014-03-07T22:20:51","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T22:20:51","slug":"planetvac-a-low-cost-sample-return-system-sponsored-by-the-planetary-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6813","title":{"rendered":"PlanetVac – a low cost sample-return system sponsored by the Planetary Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Planetary Society<\/a>\u00a0 is sponsoring development of the\u00a0PlanetVac<\/a>\u00a0low cost sample-return system at\u00a0Honeybee Robotics<\/a>\u00a0:<\/p>\n

PlanetVac uses pressurized gas to push regolith into a sample container (effectively acting like a planetary vacuum cleaner). \u00a0Because of the low pressures on Mars, the Moon, and asteroids, the technique is extremely efficient because the efficiency is related to the ratio of the pressure of the gas you are using to the ambient pressure. \u00a0Landers typically have high pressure Helium already on board, used to pressurize the fuel tanks, which could be used as the gas.<\/em><\/p>\n

A report on the project was given at a conference this week:\u00a0PlanetVac at the IEEE Aerospace Conference – The Planetary Society<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PlanetVac<\/a>PlanetVac system on Mars soil simulant<\/em>
\nHoneybee Robotics\u2019 PlanetVac system, sponsored by The Planetary Society, <\/em>
\nafter successful testing in vacuum chamber, sits on Mars soil simulant that it <\/em>
\nsuccessfully sampled.\u00a0Credit: Honeybee Robotics<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

This video shows prototype tests in a vacuum chamber:<\/span><\/p>\n