A new screw conveyor with flexible discrete spiral blades is proposed to solve the problem of particle material gathering between the screw and the tube wall in the traditional screw conveyor. With a theoretical analysis, the power consumption model of the screw conveyor with flexible discrete spiral blades is built. Then, its practicability is verified by simulation and experimental testing. The simulation results show that the increase of the spiral angle will raise the transportation speed of the particles. The diameter of the flexible blades raises with the increase of the power consumption of the screw conveyor. The experimental testing verified the analysis and simulation results.

The sampling auger used in lunar sampling and return mission is to transmit power and convey soil, and its performance is the key factor of the whole mission. However, there is currently a lack of the optimization research on soil conveying volume and power consumption models in auger structure design. To provide the drilled object, the simulation lunar soil, whose physical and mechanical property is the same as the real soil, is made by reducing soil void ratio. The models are formulated to analyze the influence of auger structure parameters on power consumption and soil conveying volume. To obtain the optimized structure parameters of auger, the multi-objective optimization functions of the maximum soil conveying volume and minimum power consumption are developed. To verify the correctness of the models, the performances of different augers drilling simulation soil are tested. The test results demonstrate that the power consumption of optimized auger is the lowest both in theory and test, and the experimental results of soil conveying volume are in agreement with theoretical analysis. Consequently, a new method for designing a lunar sampling auger is proposed which includes the models of soil conveying volume and transportation power consumption, the optimization of structure parameters and the comparison tests. This method provides a reference for sampling auger designing of the Chinese Lunar Sample Mission.

Accurately predicting power consumption of the coring bit is a crucial building block of a lunar sampling mission. The total power consumed by a coring bit consists of two portions: the power consumed by the cutters in drilling soil and the power required to overcome the friction between the soil and the bit body. Based on soil mechanics and the elastic–plastic theory, this paper proposes a model that describes the interaction between the cutter and the soil. Analysis of this model confirms the hypothesis that cutting speed has a minimal effect on the cutting force, especially when cutting speed is low. Based on the assumption that low-speed rotary cutting is similar to linear cutting, cutting force and power consumption are tested experimentally. Results show that power consumed by drilling soil contributes to 70% of the total power consumption, and the power consumed to overcome friction contributes to 30% of the total power consumption.

A new coring bit with a barrier ring was developed to address the disturbance problem associated with the common method of lunar soil sampling. This new coring bit is presented in this paper along with an analysis of the physical characteristics of regolith and coring bits. The structural parameters of the barrier ring, which disturbs the original state of the soil, are also analyzed. A user-defined material, based on the user-defined material mechanical behavior (UMAT) subroutine in the ABAQUS finite-element software, was used to simulate the contact area between the lunar soil and the barrier. The simulation results showed that the structure of the barrier ring has a significant effect on the stress and displacement produced in the lunar soil below the coring bit, but has little effect on the soil inside the ring. The test results showed that the coring bit with the barrier ring achieves a higher coring rate and causes less disturbance than a common bit.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are electrochemical electricity generation devices that use microorganisms to degrade organic matter to produce electrical energy. The anode of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is the carrier to which electrogenic microorganisms attach. However, traditional anodes do not have a storage function, which limits the application scope of microbial fuel cells. Effectively storing and utilizing the energy generated by MFCs is an important focus of ongoing research and is also key to realizing their effective application. A carbon felt film (CF) was used as the substrate, and a carbon felt film/ferrosoferric oxide (CF/Fe₃O₄) electrode was prepared by a hydrothermal method. In the power density test, the MFC system constructed with the CF/Fe₃O₄ electrode as a capacitive biological anode had a maximum power density of 5.09 W/m³, which was 4.43 times higher than that of the blank carbon felt film anode. In the charge–discharge test, the stored charge (Q_s) released by the CF/Fe₃O₄ electrode was 157.12 C/m² higher than that of the CF electrode after 45 min of charging–discharging. The modified ferrosoferric oxide anode was used in a microbial fuel cell to provide a scientific basis to construct microbial electrochemical systems with high power and energy storage functions.

The performance of a core drill is the key to an entire sample task, and various working conditions are currently being studied. Using a grain size distribution method, three simulated lunar soils can be produced. Based on the positions of the critical particle and bit, new consumption and coring rate models are proposed. Four parameters of a rig were obtained in a lunar soil drilling simulation, including core rate, rotational power consumption, penetration, and drilling time. To conduct a rigorous evaluation of the performance of drilling under different working conditions, a criterion is proposed based on the drilling parameters. The result shows that the coring drill has a better performance at drilling rock in a soil working condition; however, it exhibits a weaker performance at drilling critical particle soil.