Motor and Drill Assembly for Capturing a Soil Sample
Description
Subsurface sample collected after impact - Micromotor drives microdrill out of probe forebody after impact. Tailings from the drill (<100 milligrams or 1/250th of an ounce) fall into a chamber which is then sealed.
Water ice detection - The sample chamber is heated, turning any water ice in the soil into water vapor. A small tunable diode laser emits a beam of light through the vapor to a detector. If water vapor is present, it will absorb some of the light.
Very low power: 1.5 watts peak power during operation
Very small and lightweight: The sample collection system is about 11 cubic centimeters (1 cubic inch) and weighs less than 50 grams (1.6 ounce). The instrument electronics are about 4.8 cubic centimeters (1/3 cubic inch) and weights less than 10 grams (1/3 ounce). The tunable diode laser assembly is about 0.3 cubic centimeters (1/50th cubic inch) and weighs less than 1 gram (1/30th ounce).
Capable of surviving high shock (<30,000 Gs) and low temperatures (> -120 °C or -184 °F).
Instrument electronics built using chip-on-board packaging.
