Extended Pile Driving Model to Predict the Penetration of the Insight/HP<Superscript>3</Superscript> Mole into the Martian Soil

The NASA InSight mission will provide an opportunity for soil investigations using the penetration data of the heat flow probe built by the German Aerospace Center DLR. The Heat flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP³) will penetrate 3 to 5 meter into the Martian subsurface to investigate the planetary heat flow. The measurement of the penetration rate during the insertion of the HP³ will be used to determine the physical properties of the soil at the landing site. For this purpose, numerical simulations of the penetration process were performed to get a better understanding of the soil properties influencing the penetration performance of HP³. A pile driving model has been developed considering all masses of the hammering mechanism of HP³. By cumulative application of individual stroke cycles it is now able to describe the penetration of the Mole into the Martian soil as a function of time, assuming that the soil parameters of the material through which it penetrates are known. We are using calibrated materials similar to those expected to be encountered by the InSight/HP³ Mole when it will be operated on the surface of Mars after the landing of the InSight spacecraft. We consider various possible scenarios, among them a more or less homogeneous material down to a depth of 3–5 m as well as a layered ground, consisting of layers with different soil parameters. Finally we describe some experimental tests performed with the latest prototype of the InSight Mole at DLR Bremen and compare the measured penetration performance in sand with our modeling results. Furthermore, results from a 3D DEM simulation are presented to get a better understanding of the soil response.     

Experimental Investigation of InSight HP<Superscript>3</Superscript> Mole Interaction with Martian Regolith Simulant

The InSight mission launches in 2018 to characterize several geophysical quantities on Mars, including the heat flow from the planetary interior. This quantity will be calculated by utilizing measurements of the thermal conductivity and the thermal gradient down to 5 meters below the Martian surface. One of the components of InSight is the Mole, which hammers into the Martian regolith to facilitate these thermal property measurements. In this paper, we experimentally investigated the effect of the Mole’s penetrating action on regolith compaction and mechanical properties. Quasi-static and dynamic experiments were run with a 2D model of the 3D cylindrical mole. Force resistance data was captured with load cells. Deformation information was captured in images and analyzed using Digitial Image Correlation (DIC). Additionally, we used existing approximations of Martian regolith thermal conductivity to estimate the change in the surrounding granular material’s thermal conductivity due to the Mole’s penetration. We found that the Mole has the potential to cause a high degree of densification, especially if the initial granular material is relatively loose. The effect on the thermal conductivity from this densification was found to be relatively small in first-order calculations though more complete thermal models incorporating this densification should be a subject of further investigation. The results obtained provide an initial estimate of the Mole’s impact on Martian regolith thermal properties.     

Potential Effects of Surface Temperature Variations and Disturbances and Thermal Convection on the Mars InSight HP<Superscript>3</Superscript> Heat-Flow Determination

The HP³ instrument on the InSight lander mission will measure subsurface temperatures and thermal conductivities from which heat flow in the upper few meters of the regolith at the landing site will be calculated. The parameter to be determined is steady-state conductive heat flow, but temperatures may have transient perturbations resulting from surface temperature changes and there could be a component of thermal convection associated with heat transport by vertical flow of atmospheric gases over the depth interval of measurement. The experiment is designed so that it should penetrate to a depth below which surface temperature perturbations are smaller than the required measurement precision by the time the measurements are made. However, if the measurements are delayed after landing, and/or the probe does not penetrate to the desired depth, corrections may be necessary for the transient perturbations. Thermal convection is calculated to be negligible, but these calculations are based on unknown physical properties of the Mars regolith. The effects of thermal convection should be apparent at shallow depths where transient thermal perturbations would be observed to deviate from conductive theory. These calculations were required during proposal review and their probability of predicting a successful measurement a prerequisite for mission approval. However, their uncertainties lies in unmeasured physical parameters of the Mars regolith.     

New approaches to weapon system testing or “back to thefuture”

This paper proposes abandoning the use of multipurpose ATE for “horizontal” support of weapon systems in favor of returning to “vertical” support. An R&D effort is proposed to develop a software “hot mock-up” system for field testing weapon system assemblies     

Comment on “A new approach to robust fault detection andidentification”

In the paper by M. Saif and Y. Guan (see ibid., vol. 3, no 29, p. 685-695), a necessary and sufficient condition is given for the existence of an asymptotically stable observer in the case of p=m. The objective of this note is to point out a critical mistake in the main theorem of the paper     

Simulation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>-crimp shaping with the use of the ansys finite element software

A finite element model of the Z-crimp shaping from a hard sheet blank is developed and a number of calculations using the ANSYS finite element software is conducted. The calculations are carried out in the framework of elastoplastic behavior of the blank material using the classical model of bilinear kinematic (translational) hardening with corresponding parameters of elasticity and plasticity. The model takes into account kinematics of spatial transformation of the shaping equipment as well as the time-variable conditions of its contact interaction with the blank.     

非洲机毁事故居世界之首，飞行安全基金会提出警告

飞行安全基金会(FSF)的一份报告显示,鉴于 非洲在进近着陆阶段异乎寻常的高事故率,迫切要求非洲国家和航空公司更新基础设施和设备,加强可靠安全程序的使用。 这份报告主要是根据目前在非洲召开的目的是针对不同航空公司、国家和地区编制相应减少进近着陆事故标准的一系列会议而汇编的。FSF是一个致力于改善航空飞行安全的国际组织。     

From geometry to CFD grids—An automated approach for conceptual design

The CEASIOM software developed in the EU-funded collaborative research project SimSAC generates stability and control data for preliminary aircraft design using different methods of varying fidelity. In order to obtain the aerodynamic derivatives by CFD, the aircraft geometry must be defined, computational meshes generated, and numerical parameters set for the flow solvers. An approach to automation of the process is discussed, involving geometry generation and mesh generation for inviscid as well as RANS flow models.     

AeroSME - help for sMEs to join european R&TD programmes

The European Commission and the aerospace industry in Europe have set up AeroSME, a joint activity to encourage and support the participation of small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in European Research Programmes.     

一家新的航线维修公司即将参与中国MRO市场

正随着中国民航运输市场的日益繁忙,国内航线维修市场的快速增长,以及北京市在服务业方面扩大开放综合试点、放宽外资准入的政策优惠,法荷航维修工程公司迅速抓住这一契机,与北汽集团旗下的北京通航公司联姻合资,成立了中国国内首家在飞机维修领域外商控股的合资企业。2月27日,北京通航法荷航飞机航线维修有限责任公司(AFI KLM EM-BGAC Line Maintenance CO.,Ltd.)揭牌仪式在北京汽车产业研发基地成功举行。该公司由北汽集团旗下北京通航公     

Comments on “Effect of wet snow an the null-reference ILSsystem”

The subject paper (July 1993) has raised some issues regarding the probability of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) radiating out-of-tolerance vertical guidance signals. An independent study has substantiated the findings of that paper and adds further concern regarding some FAA ILS snow procedures. The principal conclusions of this paper are: 1) an analysis, based on Walton's discovery of rare snow conditions that cause the null-reference ILS antenna image to disappear, indicates that these conditions can cause out-of-tolerance guidance signals, 2) operation without a monitor of the image radiation can result in signal-in-space guidance signal errors that are significantly beyond the intended limit values, and 3) the integrity of image glide path equipment in snow environments does not satisfy the ILS integrity requirements