Controllable Transport of Particulate Materials for In-situ Characterization

A non-mechanical technique is presented for transporting micron-sized lunar or Martian soil simulant particles in a controllable manner to an instrument for subsequent analysis. The particles move across a surface in response to multi-phase, high-voltage waveforms that are applied to sets of line-electrodes of constant spacing, which are embedded under an insulating surface. The direction of particle motion is found to be perpendicular to the electrode axis. As a simple demonstration of the technique, results of net charge measurements are presented for particles in the lunar soil simulant JSC-1a (<25 mum), and the Martian soil simulant JSC Mars-1 (20-25 mum) that were transported into a Faraday cup under ambient conditions. The results are presented using three-phase Moesner-Higuchi waveforms and for several line-electrode spacings. The results indicate that the technique is a potentially viable, non-mechanical method of collecting and transporting regolith particles for in-situ characterization during robotic planetary missions.