Avery Blalock
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Cheng Li
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering / Engineering
Program:
Authors: Avery Blalock, Ayush Pujara, Yun Zhang, Cheng Li
Session: Session 4: 1:40 pm – 2:30 pm
Poster: 101
Abstract
In the coming years, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch a mission to Mars known as the Martian Moons Explorer (MMX). This mission includes a spacecraft with a lander and rover that will explore Phobos, Mars’s largest moon. Little is known about the environment of Phobos, but one of its defining characteristics is its low gravity relative to Earth. One of the challenges this will pose for the mission is rover mobility, as a wheeled vehicle has never been operated in such a low gravity environment as Phobos. In order to prepare for these conditions, this project investigates the interaction of a rover wheel with granular material in a controlled setting. The current experiment involves a 3D-printed rover wheel in a test bed with mechanisms that control and measure vertical and forward translations of the rover wheel. The wheel moves through a sediment bed that utilizes a mix of particles to simulate the surface of Phobos. Once this stage is complete, future additions will leverage the buoyant force of water to simulate low gravity conditions. The wheel is expected to sink into the granular material further than it would under Earth-like conditions, due to reduced cohesion between the granular particles. Various advancements made during this project will likely influence future research methods, and potentially influence missions to other small bodies and moons.
