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E. Re, P.G. Magnani (Tecnospazio S.p.A.)
Missions of planetary exploration strongly rely on the so called Sampling Systems. These equipment are capable of drilling the soil of celestial bodies at different depths and in different locations, collecting a number of samples of soft to hard soil and distributing them to the instrumentation for in-situ analysis, or storing them for return to the Earth. In the case of Mars missions, where the need to acquire information on the geological characteristics of the planet goes together with the will to search for extant or extinct life, the availability of a suitable Sampling System is of particular importance. Since several years Tecnospazio, an Italian company working in the field of Space Robotics and Automation, is involved in programmes of planetary exploration as the supplier of Sampling Systems. In particular Tecnospazio is developing, under an ASI contract, the SD2 Drill Sample and Distribution System for the ROSETTA mission to comet Wirtanen. Tecnospazio will also provide the Lander Based Sampler system as part of the Italian Space Agency contribution to the NASA Mars Missions. The present paper provides a description of the latter equipment, together with some hints about the major technological issues and challenges related to the missions to the Red Planet.