Description: The Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm) will significantly improve the utility of robotic arms for lunar landers. The arm will enable manipulation capabilities in very low temperatures, including during the lunar night, when temperatures can drop below 100 Kelvin. This project will design, build, and demonstrate a Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm). This effort will infuse Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) planetary gearboxes, BMG harmonic gears, and cold motor controllers into a TRL 6 system to address NASA's resource constrained, extreme environment mechanism needs for exploring the Moon, outer planets, and icy bodies. Motiv Space Systems developed the DACEE motor controllers under the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and Phase II program and has extensive experience developing robotic manipulators for in-situ space applications. Similar to the Mars Phoenix and Mars InSight robotic arms, COLDArm features 4 degrees of freedom (movable joints), is approximately 6.5 feet (2 meters) long and can produce approximately 10 pounds of force. A sensor embedded near the arm's “wrist" will measure and regulate the amount of force the arm exerts during any particular movement to stop the arm when the directed loads have been met and to protect the arm. The arm will be equipped with cameras for 3D mapping, lunar surface imaging, and general operations. The COLDArm team is evaluating a variety of attachments and small instruments to potentially operate at the end of the arm, including a 3D printed titanium scoop with features to collect geotechnical properties of the lunar regolith. Current state-of-the-art gearboxes for Mars rovers require heaters to maintain adequate operating temperatures for the lubricant to function and minimize wear to meet mission requirements. These heaters consume a large fraction of the rover's power budget and reduces operational capability and science return. Surface missions on the Moon (during lunar night), outer planets, and icy bodies such as Europa are expected to be severely power constrained due to the harsh environments; yet, there are currently no cold-capable gearboxes available for mechanical systems which can meet mission requirements in these extreme environments without heaters. The fundamental limitations of the current state-of-the-art unheated, cold-capable gearboxes are due to the available material systems and their need for wet lubrication to meet mission requirements. As a possible solution, BMG alloys are promising candidates for unheated planetary gearboxes and harmonic gears capable of reliable operations at temperatures below -55 °C for use on future missions. In addition, current space rated motor controllers share similar low-temperature limitations. Today's Mars rover motor controllers must consume power to be heated to survive and operate in their cryogenic temperatures. Conventional practice is to house actuator electronics in a protected, centralized, Warm Electronics Box (WEB), usually located at the system appendages. WEBs require highly complex, point-to-point wiring to connect the driver and control electronics to the actuators and instruments.

Benefits: This project will design, build, and demonstrate a Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm). This effort will infuse Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) planetary gearboxes, BMG harmonic gears, and cold motor controllers into a TRL 6 system to address NASA's resource constrained, extreme environment mechanism needs for exploring the Moon, outer planets, and icy bodies. If successful, COLDArm will significantly improve the utility for lunar landers by providing manipulation capabilities, including during the lunar night, when temperatures can drop below 100 Kelvin. Additionally, component technologies could be used in a wide range of applications, including rovers, gimbals, mechanisms, etc. The system will be equipped with cameras for 3D mapping, lunar surface imaging, and general operations. The COLDArm team is evaluating a variety of attachments and small instruments to potentially operate at the end of the arm, including a 3D printed titanium scoop with features to collect geotechnical properties of the lunar regolith.