DEPLOYMENT BOOM CONCEPTS FOR THE POSITIONING OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS ON PLANETARY SURFACES

Abstract

The in-situ exploration of planetary surfaces by lander vehicles requires in most cases suited deployment tools which can mechanically release the involved instru-ments from their stowed configuration and bring them into their desired operating position beside or above the lander platform. The concepts described in this paper refer to a multi-link deployment boom which can solve this task with minimum complexity but maximum reliability. This boom was particularly designed for soil-oriented instruments. Each of its links consists of an ultralight carbonfiber structure combined with a redundant electrical drive in the axes which is simple but efficient. The boom can climb across various ob-stacles while it rolls away from the lander and simulta-neously unfolds itself. Analyses, simulations, and tests have shown that the multi-link unfoldable deployment boom is a promising tool for planetary exploration missions.