Modelling of pneumatic sample transport systems for Enceladus surface acquisition

Saturn’s moon Enceladus represents one of the most promising places in the Solar System that might potentially host the life beyond Earth, as suggested by the Cassini mission. A potential future mission landing on the surface of Enceladus would have the goal of collecting surface samples for in-situ analysis. Pneumatics represents one of the emerging methods for sample handling in low gravity environments. This study introduces the models developed to investigate the pneumatic transport of surface samples in a low gravity environment like the one found on Enceladus (1% of Earth’s gravity) with the aim of providing guidelines for sample chain design.