Moon Digger

grabcad

Here's my entry for the NASA Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Bucket Drum Design Challenge found here: https://grabcad.com/challenges/nasa-regolith-advanced-surface-systems-operations-robot-rassor-bucket-drum-design-challenge. I was stuck at home waiting for the Corona virus to blow over when I stumbled upon this contest and started brainstorming. Why not use the same wheels as the rover's propulsion system to dig, making the entire unit smaller, lighter, and less complicated? This sparked a design idea in my mind, which I quickly sketched out. My proposal involves using the rover's existing wheels to rotate in different directions, allowing regolith to fall into a central compartment. This compartment could be emptied to the sides via an Archimedes screw or similar mechanism. Scaling the volume of the compartment would be straightforward, and it could easily interface with transportation belts or rovers. I hope you find this idea intriguing at least - it's certainly a departure from conventional designs. Take care and greetings from Sweden!