Mole Penetrator 'KRET' for Lunar Exploration

Introduction: Mole devices are low velocity, medium to high stroke energy but low power, self-driv en penetrators, designed as a carrier of different sen sors for in situ investigations of subsurface layers of planetary bodies [2]. The maximum insertion depth is limited by energy of mole’s single stroke and soil re sistance for the dynamic penetration. A mole penetrator KRET (Fig. 1) has been designed, developed, and successfully tested at Space Research Centre PAS in Poland [5]. KRET design takes advantage of the MUPUS penetrator [3] (a payl oad of Philae lander on Rosetta mission) insertion tests knowledge [4]. The parameters of the mole KRET are listed in the Table 1.