Concept for coring from a low-mass rover

Future Mars missions such as the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission may benefit from core sample acquisition from a low-mass rover where the rover cannot be assumed to be stationary during a coring operation. Manipulation from Mars rovers is currently done under the assumption that the rover acts as a stationary, stable platform for the arm. An MSR mission scenario with a low-mass rover has been developed and the technology needs have been investigated. Models for alternative types of coring tools and tool-environment interaction have been developed and input along with wheel-soil interaction models into the Stanford Simulation & Active Interfaces (SAI) simulation environment to enable simulation of coring operations from a rover. Coring tests using commercial coring tools indicate that the quality of the core is a critical criterion in the system design. Current results of the models, simulation, and coring tests are provided.