NASA/JPL Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor(EELS) Liquid Sampling Unit

Currently, NASA JPL is developing a screw propulsion robot referred to as the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) with the hopes of eventually sending the EELS robot to Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, in search of alien life in its subglacial waters. I worked with a team that was tasked with developing an integrated liquid sampling system for the EELS robot to capture sub-glacial liquid samples for later analysis by ocean scientists. The overall design objective was to create a robust and adaptable sampling system that can reliably retrieve and store two separate samples of one liter each. Other objectives were to comfortably fit all the desired electrical and sampling components into a segment of the EELS robot and develop a system capable of withstanding the high pressure, low temperature, and underwater environment in which it will need to operate. Many options were considered and the team decided to go with pump bag design for reliable liquid intake. A functional prototype was developed for a pump intake system. A more detailed CAD was developed as well, and further testing was performed to isolate any pump related design issues. With the incorporation of a flow rate and humidity sensor the team developed a closed loop system for error prevention. Testing was conducted on the full system to understand the
capabilities of all the component working together. We presented our system at the Georgia Tech Capstone expo with the bellow poster and prototype.