This is the science design guide in progress, high level stuff, a sketch is to be created soon after this

Core elements

• Hoover for dirt

• Turn table for test tubes

• Sensor read head

• Rock cam read head

• Positioning camera

• Test tube camera

Structure Material

• the plan is to use aluminum extrusions for the entirety of the build

• add more detail later on of the choice of pumbing material as well as test tube size and material

• should talk about wire management here

Expected Actuator List

All to be specc'ed out

Expected Camera List

All to be specc'ed out

Expected Sensor List

Detailed System Descriptions

Hoover

• this will be used to transport dirt to the test tubes

• will go up and down on a vertical axis to reach the ground

• should incorporate adjustable vent holes to control air dirt ratio

• delivery end shall use a cup separator

  • design for various mesh sizes to test with

• deliver to 3 test tubes simultaneously

• use some sort of suction motor to generate the vacuum → 24V

• potentially add a drill motor

  • (lathe style power with hex shaft to fix motor to frame rather than on axis)

• 1 linear axis up and down

  • plumbing might be tricky

Turn table

• stores 3 test tubes per station with 5 total stations, layout will place the 15 test tubes in 3 rings of 5 concentric

• test tubes need to follow no spill policy

  • use gasket and bellows to seal by pushing it

• need to figure out how to make good air tight fit with delivery system

• needs to rotate using a standard continuous motion (no Geneva drive)

• may need another axis to  properly locate the test tubes under the vacuum delivery

• size of test tube tbd

Sensor read head

• allows the sensors to be placed in the dirt, as well retract to get a base line reading

• read head will have the following sensors:

  • Methane sensor (683) https://www.dfrobot.com/product-683.html

  • Humidity & Temperature sensor (385) https://www.adafruit.com/product/385

  • Soil Moisture sensor (599) https://www.dfrobot.com/product-599.html

• mind the wiring management

• 1 linear axis up and down

Rock Camera

• some sort of dino camera will be used

  • if one is found in the bay, it will be used

• 1 linear axis up and down

  • x-z positioning might be difficult, this is addressed in the nice-to-haves section

Positioning Camera

• static camera on chassis to see the the dirt in relation to the instruments

• can be a cheapo webcam found in the bay

Test tube Camera

• static camera on chassis to see the test results from the test tubes

• can be a cheapo webcam found in the bay

Nices-to-haves

• 1 axis side to side gantry

  • this will help strafing positioning that would be difficult to do with just the drivetrain

  • the entire science mechanism will go on the gantry and the gantry mounts on the chassis

• 2 axis x-z gantry

  • replaces the 1 axis gantry

  • would really help with positioning of read heads

• Drill with hoover

  • that extra spicy touch

• Other sensors

  • if budget permits, we could get a CO2 sensor,

  • spectroscopy will have to wait till next year

• aiming diode

  • laser pointer to see where the linear axis will end up