NASA Micro-g NExT – Helical Anchoring System

Background

In Fall 2015, a group of engineering students from Arizona State University came together and formed a team known as “Next Level Devils” to participate in NASA’s Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams (Micro-g NExT) program. After a year of brainstorming, designing, and prototyping, the team was accepted as a finalist for the 2016-2017 program to perform an experiment at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. There, a group of NASA divers carried out testing of the project underwater. Read more about the project in this article published by Arizona State University.

The NASA Micro-g NExT program offers undergraduate students an opportunity to test and develop a tool for the application of space exploration. Next Level Devils addressed the specific challenge of designing a tool to anchor NASA equipment or instrumentation to the soil, also known as regolith, on the surface of a celestial body such as an asteroid.

Information

PURPOSE

NASA Micro-g NExT Program

MATERIAL

3D-printed Aluminum

DATE

Fall 2015 - Summer 2016

Final designs

(left to right) half-tapered auger, full-tapered auger.

Constructed of 3D-printed aluminum.

Design Process

The final designs were made with simplicity in mind, bearing similarity to traditional augers used in construction. Using computer-aided design tools and parametric equations, the team developed digital models of the anchors. Later, with the support of the additive manufacturing team at Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, the team was able to produce physical models made of 3D-printed aluminum, as seen above.

The final designs were made with simplicity in mind

Anchor with Pneumatic Operation

Rotary action achieved with torque wrench

Anchor with Hand Operation

Rotary action achieved with speed handle

Tool operation

Primary operation of the tool is achieved using a pneumatic torque wrench. Pneumatic power was acceptable for the underwater conditions of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and was also projected as a possibility in a closed-loop circulating air-tool system in space. The team also included a version of the tool compatible with hand-operation. Both versions were tested at the NBL.