Lunar Sample Return System

Project Goal: Design a repeatable mission architecture for collecting physical and sensor samples from lunar lava tubes and delivering them to the International Space Station.

The Lunar Acquisition Vehicle and Analysis, or LAVA, mission to study the geohistory of the moon plans to send an assembly of vehicles from Earth to explore lunar lava tubes located on the near side. Physical samples and sensor measurements are to be collected and taken to the International Space Station.

For this design, an orbiter and lander pair orbits the moon before the lander reaches the surface and deploys a modified version of the JPL DuAxel rover. The tethered rover uses a zipline to lower itself into the lava tube through a skylight and take samples that have been preserved for at least 3 billion years. The rover hands off the samples to the lander, which transfers them to the orbiter for delivery to the space station, where the orbiter also refuels.

To develop proof of concept, the team prototyped the zipline mechanism that Axel lowers into the lava tube. The assembly successfully demonstrates the design’s feasibility.