Study on cutting method of sampling lunar superficial soil

Obtaining in-situ lunar soil samples is fundamental to studying the characteristics of lunar surface resources. A circular cutting sampling method is proposed, and its sampling characteristics are explored by theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The results indicate that the traditional vertical cutting sampling will cause serious damage to the sequence structure and physical properties of samples. Circular inner blade cutting sampling can avoid the disorder of particle sequence, but the design of the inner blade will force the particles to move to the coring barrel, causing sample disturbance. Compared with vertical and inner-blade cutting method, circular outer blade cutting sampling reduces sample disturbance by 61% and 47.5%, respectively, making it the optimal sampling method. These research findings can provide theoretical and technical support for superficial sampling in deep space.