In-situ exploration the solar system planetary bodies requires the ability to penetrate the subsurface for sample collection. One type of a sampling device used in past missions that is continually being developed is the drill. In these extraterrestrial applications, the drilling systems have mass, volume and energy consumption constraints that limit their depth of penetration. To address the related challenge, a deep drill, called Auto-Gopher II, is currently being developed as a joint effort between JPL’s NDEAA laboratory and Honeybee Robotics Ltd. The Auto-Gopher II is a wireline rotary-hammer drill that combines breaking formations by hammering using a piezoelectric actuator and removing and collecting the cuttings by rotating a fluted bit. The hammering is produced by the Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corer (USDC) mechanism that has been developed by the JPL team as an adaptable tool for many drilling and coring applications. The USDC uses an intermediate free-flying mass to convert high frequency vibrations of a piezoelectric transducer horn tip into lower frequency hammering of the drill bit. The USDC concept was used in a previous task to develop an Ultrasonic/Sonic Ice Gopher and then integrated into a rotary hammer device to develop the Auto-Gopher-I. The lessons learned from these developments were implemented into the development of the Auto-Gopher-II, an autonomous deep wireline drill with integrated cuttings management and drive electronics. Subsystems of this wireline drill were developed in parallel at JPL and Honeybee Robotics Ltd. In this paper, we present the latest developments including the integration of the whole drill, laboratory testing and field test results.
An important challenge of exploring the solar system is the ability to penetrate at great depths the subsurface of planetary bodies for sample collection. The requirements of the drilling system are minimal mass, volume and energy consumption. To address this challenge, a deep drill, called the Auto-Gopher II, is currently being developed as a joint effort between JPL’s NDEAA laboratory and Honeybee Robotics Corp. The Auto-Gopher II is a wireline rotaryhammer drill that combines breaking formations by hammering using a piezoelectric actuator and removing the cuttings by rotating a fluted bit. The hammering is produced by the Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corer (USDC) mechanism that has been developed by the JPL team as an adaptable tool for many drilling and coring applications. The USDC uses an intermediate free-flying mass to convert high frequency vibrations of a piezoelectric transducer horn tip into sonic hammering of the drill bit. The USDC concept was used in a previous task to develop an Ultrasonic/Sonic Ice Gopher and then integrated into a rotary hammer device to develop the Auto-Gopher-I. The lessons learned from these developments are being integrated into the development of the Auto-Gopher-II, an autonomous deep wireline drill with integrated cuttings and sample management and drive electronics. In this paper the latest development will be reviewed including the piezoelectric actuator, cuttings removal and retention flutes and drive electronics.
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) completed the first phase of its TCS upgrade in early 2015. Prior to this effort, the previous version of CFHTs TCS was largely unmodified since it began operation in 1979 and had begun to exhibit reliability and maintainability issues entering its third decade of operation. The first phase consisted of replacing the custom-built servo control hardware built by the Canadian Marconi Company with an off-the-shelf Delta Tau Systems Power PMAC and replacing the absolute and incremental encoders with modern equivalents. Adapting the motion control algorithms used within the Power PMAC for real-time control of the telescope on the sky posed unique challenges. This work brie y summarizes the design for the upgraded TCS at CFHT, describes the solutions that adapted the traditional use of the Power PMAC for use at CFHT, and discusses the improved performance of CFHTs new TCS in terms of decreased time to target and tracking error.
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