Development of Sample Verification System for Sample Return Missions

Toda, Risaku; McKinney, Colin; Jackson, Shannon P.; Mojarradi, Mohammad; Trebi-Ollennu, Ashitey; Manohara, Harish

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NASA NTRS · 20110015577

Development of Sample Verification System for Sample Return Missions

Toda, Risaku·McKinney, Colin·Jackson, Shannon P.·Mojarradi, Mohammad·Trebi-Ollennu, Ashitey·Manohara, Harish

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Abstract

This paper describes the development of a proof of-concept sample verification system (SVS) for in-situ mass measurement of planetary rock and soil sample in future robotic sample return missions. Our proof-of-concept SVS device contains a 10 cm diameter pressure sensitive elastic membrane placed at the bottom of a sample canister. The membrane deforms under the weight of accumulating planetary sample. The membrane is positioned in proximity to an opposing substrate with a narrow gap. The deformation of the membrane makes the gap to be narrower, resulting in increased capacitance between the two nearly parallel plates. Capacitance readout circuitry on a nearby printed circuit board (PCB) transmits data via a low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface. The fabricated SVS proof-of-concept device has successfully demonstrated approximately 1pF/gram capacitance change

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Toda, Risaku, McKinney, Colin, Jackson, Shannon P., Mojarradi, Mohammad, Trebi-Ollennu, Ashitey, Manohara, Harish. 2011-03-05. Development of Sample Verification System for Sample Return Missions. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20110015577

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