Miniature Side-Bore Sample-Acquisition Mechanism

The figure illustrates various aspects of a proposed mechanism that would be mounted in an instrumented penetrator dart for use in acquiring a sample of soil. In operation, the dart would be dropped from a height to make it penetrate the ground to a suitable depth, then the mechanism would be activated to acquire the sample of soil through the side of the dart. The mechanism and dart would be built to withstand a ground-impact deceleration of as much as 30,000 times the acceleration of normal Earth gravity. The mechanism would be able to take a sample of relatively hard, frozen soil at a temperature as low as -80 °C. Originally designed for use in remotely controlled exploration of Mars, the penetrator and mechanism might be adaptable to sampling soil in remote, cold, or otherwise hostile or inaccessible environments on Earth.