Preliminary Design of the Robotic Pickup, Install, and Encapsulation Subsystem for CCRS

The Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS) aims to bring Martian rock and atmosphere samples to Earth as part of the planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. CCRS would consist of four key phases: (1) Launch, Commission, and Outbound Transfer, (2) Capture and Configuration of samples in Mars orbit, (3) On-Orbit Assembly of samples into Earth Entry Vehicle, (4) Protection, Jettison, and Release of the Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV). Under this architecture, the robotic (mechanical) functions during the On-Orbit Assembly phase were allocated to the Pickup, Install, and Encapsulation (PIE) subsystem. The subsystem relied on both hand calculations and ADAMS analysis to perform the multibody dynamic analysis associated with the required functions as part of establishing a preliminary design. Some key challenges entailed (a) interfaces driving system and hardware design, (b) configuration constraints (e.g. geometric, mass, resources - active vs passive), and (c) an aggressive schedule. This paper will describe the preliminary design of the subsystem as it pertains to the robotic functions, discuss key challenges and mitigations implemented, the multibody dynamics analysis, and the validation & verification plan. Note: any design information included here should be viewed as notional, as the CCRS project has been paused indefinitely while the MSR re-architecture efforts continue to respond to the findings of an independent review board. The information provided here reflects the project status at the end of its preliminary design review.