A Legged Device Based on Active Buffering for Probe Landing on Micro-gravitational Asteroid*

Abstract

The landing of the probe on the asteroid surface provides the technical basis for in-situ exploration and sampling return and promotes to maximize the value of the probe. The micro-gravitation and the uncertainty in topography and geology on the asteroid surface pose challenges to the landing of the probe. To develop the asteroid landing technology, the legged landing device of asteroid probe based on active buffering mode is studied in this paper. The landing device adopts a three-legged structure to possess higher adaptability to the surface topography of asteroids and get the light and simple configuration. Besides, a buffering unit is designed based on the active mode of the damping motor which has obvious advantages in self-adaptability and autonomy. Through the comparison of various schemes, the slider-legged landing device is determined and designed in detail. On this basis, the co-simulation of the probe landing on the asteroid surface is completed, which shows the satisfaction of this device to reliability and efficiency. Finally, a prototype of the landing device is constructed and the micro-gravitational simulated test platform is developed to implement the landing buffering test of asteroid probe. The test results validate the performance of the landing device.