Design and Test of Retention Mechanism to Apply Direction-Dependent Axial Force to Mars Returnable Sample Tube Assemblies

This paper describes a compact, high force, fully reversible 2-way latching mechanism design that will interact with hardware currently on Mars. Details of the mechanism and a novel wire wound joint design are presented alongside preliminary test results and lessons learned. A hardware-rich, iterative design approach has informed the design, which has potential applications for future high-reliability aerospace latch mechanisms.