'PlanetVac': NASA's Vacuum Cleaner To Collect Soil Samples In Seconds

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is introducing a groundbreaking technology, the Lunar PlanetVac (LPV), which will change how scientists collect and study soil and rock samples on the Moon and other planets.

Developed by Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, LPV operates like a high-tech vacuum cleaner. It uses pressurised gas to stir up lunar soil, creating a mini-tornado that funnels the material into a sample container.

This system, secured to Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander, will autonomously collect and analyse data to be sent back to Earth.

The device eliminates the need for mechanical arms, reducing wear and tear. “There's no digging, no mechanical arm to wear out requiring servicing or replacement – it functions like a vacuum cleaner,” Dennis Harris, who manages LPV at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, said. “The technology on this CLPS payload could benefit the search for water, helium, and other resources and provide a clearer picture of in situ materials available to NASA and its partners for fabricating lunar habitats and launch pads, expanding scientific knowledge and the practical exploration of the solar system every step of the way.”

Mounted on the Blue Ghost lander, LPV's sampling head will emit pressurised gas to stir up the lunar soil, creating a miniature dust tornado. The stirred particles, including those up to one cm in size, will be funnelled into a transfer tube via secondary pneumatic jets and deposited into a sample container. Inside, the regolith will be sieved, photographed, and analysed, with real-time data transmitted back to researchers on Earth.

This autonomous process, expected to take mere seconds, adheres to strict planetary protection protocols to ensure sample integrity. The technology also supports in situ testing, enabling researchers to evaluate the composition of lunar materials on the spot.

The Lunar PlanetVac is one of 10 payloads aboard Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander, seven of which are managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.