MARS Rover: Proof of Life Module

Summary

 

​The study of extraterrestrial life has been one of the major interests of scientists. Science is advancing rapidly in the study of the universe. The presence of water on Mars has raised a big question of whether there is a presence of life on Mars. However, no significant development has been made on the findings of life on Mars. Our project proposes a method to illustrate the similar action of detection of life. The proof of life module is a part of a Mars rover which is an autonomous rover that goes to the designated region to dig the soil, collect the soil sample, and perform the testing of the soil in the rover itself without further lab testing to conclude the presence or absence of life in the soil sample. It is a multidisciplinary project which consists of working systems like pulley mechanism, gear racket mechanism, vacuum system, and biochemistry for chemical testing where all the components are connected electronically and programmed by using Arduino. By the end of the first half of the project time, all the cad files are created using SolidWorks. The analysis for the parts was carried out using ANSYS workbench and the computational fluid dynamics analysis of the vacuum system airflow was carried out using ANSYS fluent. The analysis showed that the design was safe, and the geometry of the vacuum system would allow the desired airflow direction. All the parts were manufactured during the beginning of the second semester and all the sub systems were tested successfully. The pulley system allows the smooth vertical translation of the module. The gear rack kit system translates the drill vertically to the ground. The drill digs the soil from the testing site followed by the vacuum system which collects the soil sample to the testing bin. The testing bin rotates to excite the reaction between soil and the Benedict’s reagent present in the testing bin. The camera installed beside the transparent testing bin shows the color change in the chemical. The change in color from blue to green signifies the presence of carbohydrates in the sample which is an essential ingredient of life. The proof of life module was controlled autonomously by using Arduino programming and successfully operated in the lab.








































 

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