DrACO : Sampling System for Dragonfly
NASA New Frontiers 4 Mission, Phase A
Winter 2018 - Summer 2019
The Exploration Technology Group at Honeybee Robotics developed the end-to-end sampling system for Dragonfly, the New Frontiers 4 mission to send a flying, multi-rotor drone to Saturn’s moon Titan. I was the design lead for two of the four subsystems, as well as configuration manager, integration and testing lead.
DrACO uses drills on each of Dragonfly’s skids to extract material from the ground, a vacuum system to transport the cuttings inside the vehicle, sample cups to catch the material as it flies through the vacuum hose, and a carousel to deliver the sample to the instruments. As pneumatics lead, I was in charge of developing DrACO's vacuum system to guarantee that clean transport of a wide variety of materials; as sample cup lead, I worked closely with scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to develop a novel, self-metering sample cup compatible with the laser-based instrument. Over 16mo, we matured the technology from concept to high-fidelity brassboard and successfully tested sample drilling and collection in a Titan-like environmental chamber with a range of cryogenic titan simulants.
PNEUMATIC INLET AND DRILL BIT IN TITAN-LIKE CHAMBER
SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITION OF CRYOGENIC AMMONIA ICE
I also led the integration and test of all four subsystems into a full-scale brassboard, coordinating the efforts of the mechanical, electrical, and software engineers to combine our flight-like mechanisms with EGSE and control software. Using this integrated brassboard, we successfully tested end-to-end sampling of room temperature Titan analogs to both instrument modes. DrACO had a section in the mission proposal, and we supported the NASA review panel site-visit.
FULL SCALE DRACO BRASSBOARD
FULL LDMS SAMPLE CUP IN CAROUSEL
Dragonfly was selected in June 2019 as the New Frontiers 4 mission, with a launch date of 2026. The DrACO contract is the largest in Honeybee’s 35-year history.
Publications
Development and Testing of a Sample Cup for Laser-Based Instruments. Costa JT*, Grubisic A, Sparta J, Li X, Castillo M, Holmes V, Crandall C, Yen B, Rehnmark F, Trainer M, Lorenz R, Zacny K. Proceedings of the 2019 Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon), June 2019. In Press.
Abstract, Presentation, Video
Sampling the Ocean Worlds: Drilling and Pneumatic Transfer. Sparta J*, Costa JT, Sanigepalli V, Yu D, Ng P, Bailey J, Yen B, Rehnmark F, Zacny K, Lorenz R. Proceedings of the 2019 Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon), June 2019. In Press.
Application of Pneumatics in Delivering Samples to Instruments on Planetary Missions. Zacny K, Lorenz R, Rehnmark F*, Costa JT, Sparta J, Sanigepalli V, Yen B, Yu D, Bailey J, Bergman D, Hovik W. Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference, March 2019. In Press.
Drilling Into Titan Cryogenic Materials: Water-Ammonia Ice and Paraffin Wax. Sparta J, Lorenz R*, Costa JT, Rehnmark F, Zacny K. Proceedings of the 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, August 2018. #3008
Abstract, Presentation
Cryogenic Sample Acquisition and Delivery System (CryoSADS) for Titan and Europa. Zacny K, Lorenz R, Rehnmark F, Costa JT, Bailey J, Traeden N, Mank Z, Sparta J. Proceedings of the 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, July 2018.
Pneumatic Sample Acquisition and Transfer for 'Ocean Worlds' Landers. Lorenz R*, Zacny K, Costa JT, Rehnmark F, Sparta J, Traeden N, Mank Z. Proceedings of the 15th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW), June 2018.
Abstract, Presentation
Surface and Subsurface Sampling Drills for Life Detection on Ocean Worlds. Rehnmark F*, Costa JT, Sparta J, Bailey J, Zacny K, Lorenz R. Proceedings of the 15th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW), June 2018.
Pneumatic Sample Transport for Ocean Worlds. Sparta J*, Costa JT, Rehnmark F, Bailey J, Zacny K, Lorenz R. Proceedings of the 15th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW), June 2018.
*Presenter