Model Tests of Regolith Packaging Mechanism

Abstract

A robot construction method is developed for burying a lunar outpost. With this method, sandbags are made and piled up on the lunar surface to build a sandbag stack around an outpost and bury it. This method makes it possible to build a lunar base efficiently while minimizing risky manned space operations. In this study, we focused on the “sandbag,” which is the most critical element in a burying mission using a sandbag stacking robot, made a basic design based on soil pressure analysis, and evaluated the validity of design by conducting model tests. We confirmed the validity of the basic design of the sandbag stacking robot from these studies.