TARDIVEL , Simon

This dissertation investigates landings on an asteroid. The lander is a scientific package devoid of any navigation platform. It is released in a region dynamically favorable to landing. The study of the interaction between the lander and the surface shows the possible trade-offs on the lander physical properties that may affect its landing.

The idea of deploying a lander on the secondary body of the binary primitive asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3 is investigated. 1996 FG3 is the backup target of the European sample return space mission MarcoPolo-R under assessment study at the European Space Agency in the framework of the M3 Medium-Class mission competition. The launch will take place...

We study rover-regolith interactions in low-gravity environments by conducting soft-sphere discrete element method (SSDEM) simulations with a simplified rover wheel and a bed of spherical particles. The simulations reveal that rover performance scales according to the Froude number, or a dimensionless parameter which accounts for the size of...

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is frequently used to model complex granular systems and to augment the knowledge that we obtain through theory, experimentation, and real-world observations. Numerical simulations are a particularly powerful tool for studying the regolith covered surfaces of asteroids, comets, and small moons, where...

We conduct experiments using a single-wheel testbed and simulations using the Soft-Sphere Discrete Element Method to study wheel-regolith interactions on small-body surfaces. We analyze wheel sinkage and traction on different surface materials and we discuss the influence that lowgravity has on rover maneuverability.

Context. Slow interactions on small body surfaces occur both naturally and through human intervention. The resettling of grains and boulders following a cratering event, as well as observations made during small body missions, can provide clues regarding the material properties and the physical evolution of a surface. In order to analyze such...

The Mars Moon eXploration (MMX) mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, which is going to explore the Martian Moons Phobos and Deimos and also return samples from Phobos back to Earth will also deliver a small (about 25 kg) Rover to the surface of Phobos. The payload of this rover consists of a Raman spectrometer (RAX) to...

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Abstract The Japanese MMX sample return mission to Phobos by JAXA will carry a rover developed by CNES and DLR that will be deployed on Phobos to perform in situ analysis of the Martian moon's surface properties. Past images of the surface of Phobos show that it is covered by a layer of regolith. However, the mechanical and compositional...