Harpoon-based Sampling for Planetary Applications

Harpoon-based sampling techniques for sample acquisition from planetary rovers and aerobots have been developed. The approach enables access to samples on nearby steep terrain or from unstable mobile platforms with small mass and volume impacts. For rover-based sampling, alterative harpoon concepts were compared and the crossbow approach was selected. A prototype system was fabricated, mounted on a rover, and tested in the JPL marsyard. Also, two penetrator concepts were developed and tested for aerobot deployment to icy-regolith environments. One concept is a passive drop penetrator and the other is an active pyro-activated penetrator. Results of both the design and test efforts with the harpoon-based sampling systems are presented.