PlanetVac Pneumatic Device

PlanetVac is a pneumatic device that attaches to the leg of a lander vehicle and enables fast, simple, and reliable collection of regolith for analysis. The technology addresses one of the most difficult and important tasks for planetary exploration: collection of surface samples on the Moon, planets, asteroids, and other celestial bodies. Flight tests supported by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program in 2018 and 2020 helped advance the Planetvac technology to enable its selection as a payload on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander that launched on Jan. 15, 2025, and landed on the Moon on Mar. 2, 2025. PlanetVac successfully collected, transferred, and sorted lunar regolith from the Moon using pressurized nitrogen gas, demonstrating a low-cost, low-mass solution for robotic sample collection.