The Mars 2020 mission is very important for JPL. They
are sending a rover to Mars to drill and cache
samples that could one day be sent back to
earth. And it’s such a great feeling to
be able to conduct research here at UC Merced
that is assisting this mission.
The project we have going on with NASA JPL
is focused on the 2020 Mars mission, and it
has to do with the movement that has to happen
for mechanical components that will operate
in the Mars environment. In order for that
movement to happen, they need to be able to
slide easily relative to one another. The
2020 Mars mission will rely upon mechanical
components that can't be maintained. There
won't be people up there to repair the components
once it arrives on Mars. Unfortunately, the
traditional mechanisms and the approaches
that we use in engineering here on Earth aren't
necessarily applicable on Mars.
We have to ensure that all the mechanical components
on the Mars 2020 project have high efficiency,
and work for as long as necessary in the Mars
environment without maintenance.
A former graduate student of mine, Duval Johnson, is
now working at the Jet Propulsion Lab in the
applied tribology laboratory. He actually
brought this project to us and now we are
working together on the Mars 2020 Project.
The robotic arm is a multi-jointed system
that has a percussive drill on the front of
it. The percussive drill will have the ability
to drill into rock to collect samples that
will then be put into sample tubes and sealed.
We have several components — the sample
tubes being the most important of this system.
These samples tubes interface with other components
using ball-lock mechanisms.
The ball-lock mechanisms are absolutely critical in making sure that we can
pick up a tube and put the tube where it needs to be.
These sample tubes are put inside of a coring bit,
and then put in other places around the rover and eventually
dropped on the surface.
So, UC Merced is helping us more with the adaptive caching assembly
and its mechanism actuation with the ball-lock mechanisms.
My work is Experimental Tribology.
It's the study of friction, lubrication, and wear.
I check the performance of lubricants and
explore different surface engineering techniques
to reduce friction and wear on lubricants
that might be liquid lubricants, solid lubricants,
or dry-film coatings, which are currently
being used for the Mars rover mission.
For this work, NASA sends us samples that
are made with the same material that is used
in the components in the Mars rover. These
These samples are coated with the dry-film lubricant
that they plan to use on those components.
I test these samples in our tribometer, which
essentially rubs two materials together and
measures the friction force between them.
It also allows us to look at how much material
we have worn on the surface. Based on the
results I gather from this testing, I can
help NASA understand if these coatings can
perform the way they want them to
on the surface of Mars.
In the extreme environments of space, it is
absolutely critical to understand how these
materials are going to interact in cold, warm,
and very low humidity environments. If our
actuators don't work properly, if our materials
don't interact as they should, and we have
some unexpected results,
it can be a mission-critical type thing.
It's very exciting and encouraging, and we
are all pretty enthusiastic about participating
in the Mars 2020 project here at UC Merced.
We are happy that we are able to contribute
in a very meaningful way to something that’s
very tangible and in the very near future.
It gives me immense pride to be working with
NASA. As a child, I was always curious about
space, and now I am working on research at
UC Merced for NASA.
And that gives me immense satisfaction.
It feels good to be a part of something that
has the ability to increase our knowledge
of other planets and their creation and formation
and life that could have possibly been there
before.
It just feels good to be part of something bigger than just this Earth.
