Mobile Base Anchoring Device for Uneven Terrain
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vertically landing aerospace vehicles and placing objects on topographically challenging terrain is hindered by the requirement for flat and level zones, limiting access to extensive areas and restricting operations such as search and rescue, military reconnaissance, and extraterrestrial exploration.
Innovation Solution
The Mobile Base Anchoring Device (MOBAD) secures a base onto a substrate using a projectile delivery apparatus that injects projectiles into the substrate, establishing a static connection and maximizing normal force, allowing for secure and long-term placement on uneven surfaces, including asteroids, through a combination of rotary and linear actuators and a laser-mechanical drilling system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If vertically landing is performed on traditional flat and level zones, then stable placement is achieved, but access to extensive areas and topographically challenging terrain is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The anchoring system is divided into multiple independent projectiles that can be distributed across the base footprint. Each projectile independently anchors into the substrate, and collectively they provide stable placement. This segmentation allows the system to adapt to various terrain types while maintaining overall stability through the distributed anchoring points.
Solution Approach 2:
The projectile configuration and delivery method are tailored to match the specific substrate type and terrain conditions. By adjusting projectile geometry, material properties, and injection parameters locally according to the substrate characteristics, the system achieves reliable anchoring across diverse terrains while maintaining adaptability to local conditions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If projectile injection is used to anchor base onto substrate, then secure placement on uneven surfaces is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The projectile delivery apparatus is integrated with the base structure itself, merging the anchoring function with the platform function. The base serves dual purposes: as the operational platform and as the mounting structure for the anchoring system. This consolidation reduces overall device complexity while maintaining secure placement capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The projectile delivery apparatus is designed to accommodate different projectile types and substrate conditions through a universal delivery mechanism. The same basic apparatus can deliver various projectile configurations (percussive, rotational, direct injection) depending on the substrate type, reducing the need for multiple specialized systems and thereby simplifying the overall device complexity.
3Strength
If multiple projectiles are injected into substrate, then secure connection is established, but energy consumption and operation time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multiple projectiles with individual delivery sequences rather than attempting to deliver all projectiles simultaneously with excessive force. By distributing the anchoring action across multiple smaller energy inputs delivered in sequence, the system achieves cumulative anchoring strength while managing energy consumption at manageable levels for each individual projectile delivery event.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
MOBAD enables stable and permanent placement of vehicles and objects on unstable surfaces, maintaining mechanical equilibrium and facilitating operations on steep slopes, near-zero-gravity environments, and asteroids by creating a physical coupling between the object and substrate, thereby overcoming terrain accessibility limitations.
Implementation Method 1
a focused laser beam is directed via fiber-optics along the PDU axis into an indurate substrate, thereby facilitating rapid penetration and implantation of the projectile
Implementation Method 2
a rotary actuator which imposes an angular force upon the projectile
Implementation Method 3
a linear motion actuator is attached to the angular force actuator whereby the actuators in unison torque the projectile into the substrate
Implementation Method 4
injecting a projectile into the substrate thereby establishing a causal static connection between the basal unit and the substrate by maximizing and maintaining the normal force between the base and the substrate surface
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile base anchoring device (MOBAD) is activated to infix a component projectile into a substrate as a method to affix the base onto the substrate.