Non-Flying-Type MEID Mechanism for Lunar/Planetary Exploration Spacecraft Landing

In these days, lunar/planetary detailedv exploration attracts attention again. When lunar/planetary exploration spacecraft land, large shock force may suspend them from continuing the mission by damages to mounted devices. Additionally, its shock caused spacecraft to rebound and tip over, and highly precise explorations become hard. Therefore novel landing methods to lunar/planetary surface are needed to be developed. Inprevious studies, the authors’ research group proposed the shock response control methods on the basis of momentum exchange principles. Conceretely, they adopted momentum exchange impact dampers (MEIDs) that exchange the controlled object’s momentum for that of extra masses (damper masses) close to the object. However, flying damper masses may reshock to the spacecraft or pollute the lunar/planetary surface. Therefore, the authors discuss Non-Flying-Type MEID (NFMEID) mechanism in this paper. NFMEID mechanism can exchange a part of the shock in landing for the rotary momentum of the damper masses and landing gear. If this type is available, MEID mechanisms can be applied to not only spacecraft but also general mechanical structures. The usefulness of MEID mechanism may be dramatically extended. This paper shows the effectiveness of NFMEID mechanism by some falling simulations.