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Viking lander SSA
I'm modeling a Viking lander at the moment, but it is not clear to me how
the Surface Sampler Assembly boom changes from it's flattended (wound up) state into it's free (extended) state. I know it has got something to do with heat. It's not really important for my model, but I was just intriqued by the way they can control the arms reach. Seems like a pretty nifty way of doing this. Thanks, Olaf |
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On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 11:59:22 +0200, "Olaf van der Zalm"
wrote: I'm modeling a Viking lander at the moment, but it is not clear to me how the Surface Sampler Assembly boom changes from it's flattended (wound up) state into it's free (extended) state. I know it has got something to do with heat. ....Nope. What it was, Olaf, was a flattened tube that was unrolled and shoved through a cylendar housing. This forced the tube to pop open and become rigid. Rather ingenious as it kept the weight down and provided a path for the samples to enter the sample test chambers with a minimum amount of mechanics. OM -- "No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society - General George S. Patton, Jr |
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...Nope. What it was, Olaf, was a flattened tube that was unrolled and
shoved through a cylendar housing. This forced the tube to pop open and become rigid. Rather ingenious as it kept the weight down and provided a path for the samples to enter the sample test chambers with a minimum amount of mechanics. Ok thanks for the info. The Nasa Reference Publication 1027 (Viking '75 Design and Test Summary, Volume 1 - Lander Design, Figure 106) shows a heat-treated boom, therefore I assumed the main mechanism for the boom to bemoe rigid had something to do with thermal expantion. Olaf |
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On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 20:25:21 +0200, "Olaf van der Zalm"
wrote: Ok thanks for the info. The Nasa Reference Publication 1027 (Viking '75 Design and Test Summary, Volume 1 - Lander Design, Figure 106) shows a heat-treated boom, therefore I assumed the main mechanism for the boom to bemoe rigid had something to do with thermal expantion. ....The heater was to keep the tube material from getting too frozen to be malleable, much in the same way that heaters are used on parachutes to keep them from freezing together in space before use. OM -- "No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society - General George S. Patton, Jr |
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OM wrote: ...Nope. What it was, Olaf, was a flattened tube that was unrolled and shoved through a cylendar housing. This forced the tube to pop open and become rigid. Rather ingenious as it kept the weight down and provided a path for the samples to enter the sample test chambers with a minimum amount of mechanics. You can sort of suspect where that came from, can't you? Someone was looking at a metal tape measure, and suddenly a light blinked on. I didn't realise it used the inside of the tube to convey the samples. Pat |
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On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 14:51:41 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote: You can sort of suspect where that came from, can't you? Someone was looking at a metal tape measure, and suddenly a light blinked on. ....Bing-****ing-O, Patrick! I didn't realise it used the inside of the tube to convey the samples. ....Yep. Here's how it worked: the tube was extended into the soil at an angle, and there was a conical "blade" edge at the head of sampler. The soil bunched up in the head, then the sampler arm was tilted upwards about 45 deg above horizontal. Then a "clapper" mechanism would essentially vibrate the soil down the arm and into the sample collection and distribution system to be separated and used by the life and soil properties detection devices. It was really a brilliant design, and a big leap above the "scissor" sample arm used on Surveyor as it was a hell of a lot sturdier. OM -- "No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society - General George S. Patton, Jr |
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