Sampling Mechanism for Low Gravity Bodies

In future exploration missions to low gravity bodies (e.g. a Mars moon or a near-Earth asteroid) it is planned to collect more than 100 grams of soil and return them to Earth. In previous studies several sampling tools have been proposed but there is no single sampling technology for low-gravity bodies that has been specifically conceived to provide the ability to collect material in any envisaged situation. Low gravity bodies present indeed peculiar conditions which need to be taken into account during the design and test of sampling and sample handling systems. Primarily, the very reduced gravity limits the thrust reaction capability in support to drilling operations; and, although reactions can be achieved by spacecraft anchoring or by thrust reversal, these operative conditions could limit the effectiveness of the sampling action. An alternative solution is the exploitation of the forces naturally arising from Spacecraft momentum inversion, which can be achieved by ‘touch and go’ techniques (as e.g. performed in Hayabusa mission). Although the small duration of the contact with the soil would anyhow limit the sampling depth and the collectable soil types, a properly designed sampling system would require to conclude the operation with a great effectiveness. In the last three years an ESA founded study has been carried on and a fully functional sampling mechanism for "touch and go" sampling on a low-gravity body has been selected, designed and breadboarded. Based on the results of several Proof-Of-Principle models tested on different types of specimen and after the analysis performed on a dynamic simulation model for the sampling action, a device implementing the most promising sampling technique has been designed and manufactured. It has been then tested under ambient conditions using various kinds of asteroid soil stimulants. The proposed paper will resume the key aspects and the main achievements of the study

European Seafloor Observatory Offers New Possibilities For Deep Sea Study

The Geophysical and Oceanographic Station for Abyssal Research (GEOSTAR), an autonomous seafloor observatory that collects measurements benefiting a number of disciplines during missions up to 1 year long, will begin the second phase of its first mission in 2000. The 6-8 month investigation will take place at a depth of 3400 m in the southern Tyrrhenian basin of the southern Tyrrhenian basin of the central Mediterranean. GEOSTAR was funded by the European Community (EC) for $2.4 million (U.S. dollars) in 1995 as a part of the Marine Science and Technology programme (MAST). The innovative deployment and recovery procedure GEOSTAR uses was derived from the "two-module" concept successfully applied by NASA in the Apollo and space shuttle missions, where one module performs tasks for the other, including deployment, switching on and off, performing checks and recovery. The observatory communication system, which takes advantage of satellite telemetry, and the simultaneous acquisition of a set of various measurements with a unique time reference make GEOSTAR the first fundamental element of a multiparameter ocean network. GEOSTAR's first scientific and technological mission, which took place in the summer of 1998 in the Adriatic Sea, verified the performance and reliability of the system. The mission was a success. providing 440 hours of continuous seismic magnetic and oceanographic data. Thje second phase of the mission, which was funded by the EC for$2 million (US dollars), will carry equipment for chemical, biological and isotopic analyses not used in the first phase, which will broaden the data collection effort.Published45, 48-492.5. Laboratorio per lo sviluppo di sistemi di rilevamento sottomariniN/A or not JCRreserve

Design and Optimization of a terrestrial prototype for deep subsoil exploration with experimental analyses of the boring performances

A terrestrial prototype for autonomous deep soil excavation has been designed as a demonstrator for potential future Subsurface Exploration systems. The Ground Mole Demonstrator (GMD) requirements are to excavate a hole down to a depth of 100 m on soils having compressive strength up to 150 MPa, advance in the drilled hole and steer to modify the trajectory. An hybrid technique has been chosen for the excavation process, involving both percussive and rotary drilling. To finalise and optimize the design, a test setup has been built to check the performances of the boring head and to optimize the parameters of the excavation. The insertion of several additional sensors allowed the measurement of the behaviour of the components of the boring head in terms of resistant torques, and motion of the impacting mass. The achieved boring performances using a percussion frequency of 2 Hz are 1.1 and 5.5 +/- 15% mm/h on a 137 +/- 5% MPa soil specimen and on a 23 MPa one respectively. With pure rotary drilling 2.5 +/- 15% mm/h have been observed on the 23 +/- 5% MPa specimen

European Seafloor Observatory Offers New Possibilities For Deep Sea Study

The Geophysical and Oceanographic Station for Abyssal Research (GEOSTAR), an autonomous seafloor observatory that collects measurements benefiting a number of disciplines during missions up to 1 year long, will begin the second phase of its first mission in 2000. The 6-8 month investigation will take place at a depth of 3400 m in the southern Tyrrhenian basin of the southern Tyrrhenian basin of the central Mediterranean. GEOSTAR was funded by the European Community (EC) for $2.4 million (U.S. dollars) in 1995 as a part of the Marine Science and Technology programme (MAST). The innovative deployment and recovery procedure GEOSTAR uses was derived from the "two-module" concept successfully applied by NASA in the Apollo and space shuttle missions, where one module performs tasks for the other, including deployment, switching on and off, performing checks and recovery. The observatory communication system, which takes advantage of satellite telemetry, and the simultaneous acquisition of a set of various measurements with a unique time reference make GEOSTAR the first fundamental element of a multiparameter ocean network. GEOSTAR's first scientific and technological mission, which took place in the summer of 1998 in the Adriatic Sea, verified the performance and reliability of the system. The mission was a success. providing 440 hours of continuous seismic magnetic and oceanographic data. Thje second phase of the mission, which was funded by the EC for$2 million (US dollars), will carry equipment for chemical, biological and isotopic analyses not used in the first phase, which will broaden the data collection effort

Development and validation of a prediction model for severe respiratory failure in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a multicentre cohort study (PREDI-CO study)

Objectives: We aimed to develop and validate a risk score to predict severe respiratory failure (SRF) among patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Methods: We performed a multicentre cohort study among hospitalized (>24 hours) patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from 22 February to 3 April 2020, at 11 Italian hospitals. Patients were divided into derivation and validation cohorts according to random sorting of hospitals. SRF was assessed from admission to hospital discharge and was defined as: SpO2 <93% with 100% FiO2, respiratory rate >30 breaths/min or respiratory distress. Multivariable logistic regression models were built to identify predictors of SRF, \u3b2-coefficients were used to develop a risk score. Trial Registration NCT04316949. Results: We analysed 1113 patients (644 derivation, 469 validation cohort). Mean (\ub1SD) age was 65.7 (\ub115) years, 704 (63.3%) were male. SRF occurred in 189/644 (29%) and 187/469 (40%) patients in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. At multivariate analysis, risk factors for SRF in the derivation cohort assessed at hospitalization were age 6570 years (OR 2.74; 95% CI 1.66\u20134.50), obesity (OR 4.62; 95% CI 2.78\u20137.70), body temperature 6538\ub0C (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.30\u20132.29), respiratory rate 6522 breaths/min (OR 3.75; 95% CI 2.01\u20137.01), lymphocytes 64900 cells/mm3 (OR 2.69; 95% CI 1.60\u20134.51), creatinine 651 mg/dL (OR 2.38; 95% CI 1.59\u20133.56), C-reactive protein 6510 mg/dL (OR 5.91; 95% CI 4.88\u20137.17) and lactate dehydrogenase 65350 IU/L (OR 2.39; 95% CI 1.11\u20135.11). Assigning points to each variable, an individual risk score (PREDI-CO score) was obtained. Area under the receiver-operator curve was 0.89 (0.86\u20130.92). At a score of >3, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 71.6% (65%\u201379%), 89.1% (86%\u201392%), 74% (67%\u201380%) and 89% (85%\u201391%), respectively. PREDI-CO score showed similar prognostic ability in the validation cohort: area under the receiver-operator curve 0.85 (0.81\u20130.88). At a score of >3, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 80% (73%\u201385%), 76% (70%\u201381%), 69% (60%\u201374%) and 85% (80%\u201389%), respectively. Conclusion: PREDI-CO score can be useful to allocate resources and prioritize treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic