Description:

The Root-Like Burrowing Device in Lunar Conditions flight tests will assess and compare the reaction and anchoring forces of a rigid intruder and a pneumatic tip-extending device in a low-gravity environment. These tests seek to determine whether the tip-extending device could self-anchor and improve burrowing in microgravity, where reaction forces are difficult to produce. Self-anchoring would enable the device to deliver subsurface sensors to deeper depths. Flight tests also will evaluate the validity of using bed aeration to simulate reduced gravity on cohesive and non-cohesive lunar regolith simulants.

Summary of Flight Test
2025-02-04 Asteroid Soil Strength Evaluation Test (ASSET) – The ASSET experiment is designed to help develop an understanding of soil properties and particle interaction within a low- and micro-gravity environments. The device will first compress a simulant to a known density using a compaction stage and then penetrate the simulant while collecting force vs displacement data with a probing stage. The data that was collected will be used to validate and refine granular material behavior simulations, and inform future generations of designs.
Honeybee Bubble Excitation Experiment (HBEE) – HBEE will help characterize gas bubble formation and propagation in viscous liquids in lunar gravity. These insights will help better predict how oxygen bubbles will act in regolith /rock that is melted during the in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) process called molten regolith electrolysis (MRE). The data that was collected will be used to inform designs of future ISRU systems.
PUFFER-Oriented Compact Cleaning and Excavation Tool (POCCET) – POCCET is designed to explore granular material interactions with a pneumatic system in lunar gravity conditions. The system will demonstrate non-contact pneumatic trenching by blowing air at a known outlet pressure onto a surface of loose kinetic sand and recording the response. The data collected will expand our understanding of possible pneumatic applications as more mass- and power-efficient alternatives to traditional mechanisms.
Root-Inspired Lunar Anchoring – This payload will demonstrate a low-reaction-force and low-material-displacement approach to anchoring structures to lunar surface regolith.
The experiment will extend, and then retract, a root-inspired inflatable anchoring mechanism in a resettable simulant container under lunar gravity conditions. This lunar anchoring approach has the potential to become a cornerstone architecture of human lunar permanence objectives.

 

Benefits: Testing a Root-Like Burrowing Device in Lunar Conditions will assess the reaction and anchoring forces of a pneumatic tip-extending device and evaluate whether the device could self-anchor and improve burrowing in a low-gravity environment, where reaction forces are difficult to produce. Self-anchoring also would enable the device to deliver subsurface sensors deep under planetary surfaces. Additional tests will evaluate the validity of using bed aeration to simulate reduced gravity on cohesive and non-cohesive lunar regolith simulants. This has the potential to benefit NASA missions and the commercial space industry.