Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour.

(2022) 8:46
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-022-00350-0(0123456789().,-volV)
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89().,-volV)

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The novel idea and technical progress of lunar in-situ

condition preserved coring
Mingzhong Gao . Xuan Wang . Guoqing Zhang . Minghui Li . Tao Liu .
Haichun Hao . Cunbao Li . Heping Xie

Received: 1 December 2021 / Accepted: 14 January 2022 / Published online: 15 February 2022
Ó The Author(s) 2022

Abstract The moon is rich in material resources,
lunar-based sampling is the foundation for an in-depth
understanding of lunar material resources endowment
characteristics, exploring the evolution of lunar geo-
logical structure, and realizing lunar material
resources exploitation. This paper briefly introduces
the lunar sampling work represented by the Apollo
program of the United States, the Luna program of the
former Soviet Union, and China’s Chang’E-5 lunar
exploration mission, a total of 10 times of successful
coring were performed, with a maximum coring depth
M. Gao  X. Wang (&)  M. Li  H. Hao  C. Li  H. Xie
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Deep Earth
Sciences and Geothermal Energy Exploitation and
Utilization, Institute of Deep Earth Sciences and Green
Energy, College of Civil and Transportation Engineering,
Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
e-mail: wangxuan2020@email.szu.edu.cn
M. Gao  H. Xie
State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River
Engineering, College of Water Resource & Hydropower,
Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
G. Zhang
College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering,
Shenzhen University, Nan-hai Ave 3688,
Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong, China
T. Liu
Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology,
Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065,
Sichuan, China
of 305 cm and a maximum sampling of 110.5 kg. It
presents an in-depth analysis of the inadequacy of the
existing lunar coring principles and technologies. This
paper expounds on the critical strategic significance
and scientific value of lunar in-situ condition pre-
served coring (ICP-Coring). Simultaneously, this
paper firstly refines the scientific concept of lunar
ICP-Coring in the field of deep space material
resources exploitation as the ‘‘four preservations’’
coring (preservation of composition, vacuum storage,
stratification/bedding, and compactness)—the ‘‘4 Ps’’
coring, puts forward the fundamental principles,
conception, breakthrough theory, and critical core
technology of the ‘‘4 Ps’’ lunar ICP-Coring. It explains
the latest research progress, including core drilling
machinery, film-forming mechanism while drilling,
and a platform for fidelity coring testing and analysis
under a simulated lunar environment. The research
results provide theoretical and technical support for
lunar ICP-Coring and resource exploration.
Article Highlights This paper expounds on the
critical strategic significance and scientific value of
lunar in-situ condition preserved coring (ICP-Coring),
refines the scientific concept of lunar ICP-Coring in
the field of deep space material resources exploitation
as the ‘‘four preservations’’ coring, and puts forward
the fundamental principles, conception, breakthrough
theory, and critical core technology of the ‘‘4 Ps’’ lunar
ICP-Coring.

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Keywords Lunar  Moon  In-situ condition
preserved coring  Sampling  Drilling tools
1 Introduction
Space is an inexhaustible treasure house of resources
for humanity. Humankind has carried out space
exploration activities for hundreds of years. As the
only natural satellite of the earth, the moon’s unique
material resources (rare earth, radioactive resource
uranium, nuclear fusion raw material helium 3, etc.)
can become an effective supplement and reserve to the
earth’s resources providing long-term and practical
support for the sustainable development of human
society. The exploitation of strategic lunar resources
and the establishment of a lunar scientific research
base are the inevitable trend and competitive focus of
deep space exploration, which will have a far-reaching
impact on the sustainable development of human
society (Ouyang 2005). Hence, NASA of the United
States, ESA of Europe, JAXA of Japan, China
National Space Administration, and other national
space agencies have launched a new round of lunar
exploration programs (Han 2019; Wu et al. 2017),
focusing on the exploration of special substances such
as lunar mineral resources, water ice resources,
volatiles, etc., to uncover the mysteries of lunar
evolution and life science and initiate the future
process of human exploitation of lunar resources.
The most direct technical method of lunar resource
exploration is core drilling. Core drilling is an
essential means to an in-depth study of lunar geolog-
ical information and evaluating mineral resources
(Ranjith et al. 2017; Cai et al. 2017). It is an important
technical guarantee for the exploitation of lunar
resources and the construction of a lunar base. The
Luna series of explorers of the former Soviet Union
was the first to achieve unmanned automatic coring
and sampling; the Apollo series manned lunar landing
program of the United States retrieved about 382 kg of
lunar soil by manual coring (Ouyang 2003). China
completed its lunar surface sampling and drilling
sampling in the Chang’E-5 lunar exploration mission
in the third phase of its lunar exploration program in
2020 (Leslie 2021). However, the samples obtained
from lunar exploration activities to date generally
come from areas near the moon’s equator, and the
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Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
maximum depth of drilling and coring is only three
meters. Consequently, it is impossible to obtain
complete scientific information about lunar bedrocks,
limiting humanity’s comprehensive understanding of
the evolution mechanism of lunar geology and mate-
rial resources.
The latest lunar exploration data (Li et al. 2018; Jia
et al. 2020) shows that through various research
methods such as all lunar neutron spectrum detection,
infrared spectrum detection, and impact experiments
in the permanent shadow area, human beings speculate
that there may be volatile substances such as water,
ice, and rare gases that are directly related to major
scientific problems such as life and planetary evolu-
tion. The new round of lunar exploration programs
worldwide focuses on volatile substances like lunar
water ice and rare gases. However, most of these
substances occur in a specific depth range below the
surface of the lunar soil, and the extreme environment
of the moon promotes the escape of volatile substances
during the sampling process. During the core drilling
process of the Apollo and Luna missions, the lunar soil
was subjected to intense mechanical and thermal
disturbances due to technical limitations, resulting in
the loss of the core compositions to varying degrees.
As a result, the samples acquired had been seriously
distorted, reducing their scientific quality. Hence, they
do not truly reflect the in-situ formation structure and
physical and mechanical properties of the lunar
sphere, severely restricting the accurate evaluation of
the exploration data of the occurrence state, material
composition, and content of the unique resources such
as lunar minerals, water ice, and volatile substances.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to put forward a
coring principle, technology, and method to maximize
the preservation of the in-situ properties of lunar
samples under the extreme lunar environment.
This paper systematically summarizes the current
situation and achievements of lunar sampling and
expounds on the critical scientific significance of lunar
ICP-Coring. On this basis, the scientific meaning,
fundamental principle, and system concept of lunar
ICP-Coring are proposed for the first time, with an in-
depth analysis of the critical technical bottlenecks in
fidelity coring in the lunar environment that need to be
broken through. The main research progress of the
author’s research team is introduced in detail, focusing
on exploring and developing the principle, technol-
ogy, and equipment of fidelity coring system in the
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
unique environment of the moon, aiming at acquiring
samples that preserve the in-situ environmental infor-
mation of lunar soil and lunar rock for conducting
fidelity storage and testing, thereby forming a techni-
cal and theoretical system for the exploration, devel-
opment, and utilization of space mineral resources to
vigorously promote the development of relevant
science, technology, and industries, and to ultimately
provide new technology and new equipment for
China’s and even the world’s lunar exploration
programs. It holds tremendous application prospects
and scientific value.
2 The current research in China and worldwide
Lunar sampling is a systematic project. In addition to
the performance of the coring device, which affects
the coring result, its adaptability to the lunar space
environment (tremendous temperature difference,
intense radiation, microgravity, ultra-high vacuum)
and the unique physical and mechanical properties of
lunar soil and lunar rock are also critical to the success
or failure of coring. Lunar sampling began in the
1950s. Representative missions to date include the
Apollo manned lunar landing mission of the United
States, the Luna lunar exploration mission of the
former Soviet Union, and China’s lunar exploration
program.
2.1 The US Apollo lunar sampling operations
The Apollo 11 manned lunar landing mission carried
out by the United States in 1969 implemented lunar
soil sampling for the first time (Zacny et al. 2008). In
the Apollo 11, 12, and 14 moon-landing missions,
astronauts used a press-fit lunar coring tube for coring
operations, with a maximum sampling depth of 70 cm
and a total of 99.2 kg of lunar-based samples were
obtained (Glass et al. 2010). Astronauts used the hand-
supported rotary percussion drill ALSD (Apollo Lunar
Surface Drill) to sample the lunar soil in the three lunar
landing missions of Apollo 15, 16, and 17, operating a
sampling depth range of 250–300 cm. About 282.5 kg
of lunar samples were obtained (Gouache et al. 2011).
The drill came with a maximum rotation speed of 280
r/min, a maximum impact frequency of 37.8 Hz, and
maximum impact energy of 4.4 J/blow (Hong 2001;
Stoker et al. 2008). The lunar soil samples obtained by
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the Apollo lunar landing missions were stored in a
sample box or sealed in the coring tube, which cannot
maintain the integrity and authenticity of the lunar soil
samples (Zhang 2012; Li 2014). In addition, the
United States has developed a set of arm-loaded rotary
percussion drilling samplers. The mechanical arm
supplies the drilling pressure during the drilling
process through compression of the energy storage
spring between the drilling device and the drill rig. The
drilling depth is compensated in real-time by the
mechanical arm (Davé et al. 2013; Glass et al. 2014).
The sampler uses a drill bit with a diameter of 6 mm.
During the drilling process, sand enters the collection
chamber through the annulus between the drill bit and
the coring tube and is tested by an analyzing device.
For asteroid sampling research, the United States has
developed an ultrasonic percussion drill (USDC)
based on the principle of piezoelectric driving. The
drill can convert high-frequency vibration into low-
frequency impact, effectuating the downward drilling
of the drill rig. Compared with traditional drill rigs,
USDC can drill into rocks of higher hardness with
lower drilling pressure, which overcomes the difficult-
to-operate weakness of conventional drill rigs in a low
gravity environment (Zacny et al. 2013a, b, c; Bar-
Cohen et al. 2014). NASA has developed a DAME
drilling and sampling test platform with fully auton-
omous drilling control capabilities based on various
fault identification methods for future unmanned lunar
deep drilling and sampling missions. DAME can
accurately identify six types of failures such as ‘‘drill
rod stuck’’ and ‘‘drill rod tension’’ through the closed-
loop control method and can perform targeted repairs
according to the kind of failure (Badescu 2009).
Honeybee Robotics of the United States has equipped
the DAME lunar or Mars coring system developed by
NASA with online real-time monitoring equipment
(such as laser vibrometer) and intelligent real-time
control software, which can identify extraordinary
drilling operational issues such as blocked drills, stuck
drills, drill bit mud wraps, bent drill rods, hard rocks
(Statham 2011). And the Comet sample collection and
transfer system STAM (Zacny 2007) developed by
Honeybee Robotics can process samples while they
are being collected, making it possible to perform in-
situ analysis.
It is evident that the sampling operations of the
Apollo lunar exploration missions carried out by the
United States have ‘‘insufficient depth’’ and ‘‘non-
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fidelity’’ issues. The ultimate sampling depth was
about three meters, which did not touch the lunar rock
layer, and the sampling equipment used a regular
coring tube, which failed to maintain the in-situ
information of the lunar soil samples; hence it was
difficult to accurately analyze the in-situ physical and
mechanical properties of lunar soil, compromising the
objectivity of lunar resource evaluation.
2.2 The Luna lunar sampling operations
of the former Soviet Union
The Luna lunar explorer series of the former Soviet
Union was the first to complete unmanned lunar core
drilling, sampling and return to the earth (Harvey et al.
2011). The Luna-16 explorer independently drilled
lunar soil with the equipped sampler for the first time
and ultimately stopped drilling due to excessive load.
Its drilling depth was about 35 cm, and the sample
mass acquired was about 101 g (Harvey 2006). The
sampling method of the Luna-20 explorer launched
later was similar to that of Luna-16, but it encountered
strong resistance during drilling, resulting in motor
overheating and failure. It was eventually forced to
abort drilling at a depth of 25 cm and collected about
55 g of lunar soil (Zacny et al. 2013a). The Luna-24
explorer completed the last lunar surface sampling
mission of the former Soviet Union. The impact motor
was frequently turned on during drilling, and the alarm
went off due to excessive drilling pressure. The final
drilling depth was about 225 cm, the total length of the
returned sample was about 160 cm with a mass of
about 171 g (Zacny et al. 2013b). The Luna-16 and
Luna-20 explorers of the former Soviet Union both
drilled lunar soil employing an extended manipulator
equipped with a sampler (Harvey et al. 2011). The
augur drill rod was fitted with a coring barrel inside for
sampling. When the sampling drill went into a
specified depth, both the sample and the drilling tool
were transferred to the collection container above the
return module and returned to the earth. Since the
lunar soil samples collected in these two times are
directly encapsulated in the drill pipe, it was not
possible to apply sample fidelity storage technology,
resulting in the distortion of the bedding information
of the samples acquired. The Luna-24 adopted the
improved slide rail deep drilling sampling method,
made greater use of the dead weight of the landing
module, significantly increasing the drilling pressure
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Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
(Bar-Cohen et al. 2009). Unlike the previous sampling
method, the Luna-24 explorer adopted the indepen-
dent control method based on the threshold judgment
principle and judged the relationship between the
drilling pressure and the set threshold with the help of
a spring mechanism. The impact motor was started in
time to overcome the drilling resistance when the
drilling pressure exceeded the set threshold, which
significantly improved the operational performance of
the sampler (Van et al. 2005). During the Luna-24
coring process, the soft coring bag gradually wrapped
up the lunar soil sample, and there was no slip motion
between them. After sampling, the sample was no
longer stored in the drilling tool but wound up in the
sample barrel and transported back to the earth with
the return module, maintaining the in-situ bedding
information of lunar soil to a certain extent (Zacny
et al. 2013b).
We can see that the lunar exploration missions of
the former Soviet Union had limited sampling depth
and quality, and the collected lunar samples were of a
single type. Thus, although there was some break-
through in preserving stratigraphic information, in-
situ condition-preserved lunar samples were not
acquired due to technical limitations, resulting in the
loss of rich information resources of the samples.
2.3 The lunar sampling operations of China’s
lunar exploration program
The Chang’E-5 lunar explorer launched in the third
phase of China’s lunar exploration program in 2020
was the explorer that carried out China’s first
unmanned lunar sampling mission and returned sam-
ples to the earth (Che et al. 2021). The mission adopted
augur drilling and surface excavation sampling (Ma
et al. 2018). The drilling and sampling operation lasted
about 3.12 h, during which the drilling movement of
the drilling and sampling device was about 1.68 m, the
effective travel distance of lunar soil drilling distance
was about 1 m, the cover of the sealing packaging
device was opened in place in 169 s, and the primary
packaging container and drilled samples successfully
entered into the sealing and packaging device. The
surface sampling operation lasted about 15.82 h,
during which two lunar contact sampling operations
and sample deposits were performed, and ten non-
contact lunar samplings and sample deposits were
carried out. The surface sampling primary packaging
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
containers and samples successfully entered the sealed
packaging device, and the sealed packaging device
completed the lunar surface sealing operation as
planned (Deng et al. 2021). The drilling sampling
was jointly implemented by the drilling control unit
and drilling sampling device. It adopted a footage-
rotation-percussion coaxial drive. The maximum
power of a single machine exceeded 800 W, which
successfully achieved effective control of the drilling
and coring of the profile lunar soil. The surface
sampling was jointly implemented by a surface
sampling control unit, a mechanical sampling arm,
and a surface sampling primary packaging device. The
system was equipped with a robotic arm with multiple
degrees of freedom, lightweight and small size, large
arm spread, and high load, integrating various func-
tions such as shoveling, digging, suction, receiving,
and grasping. The repeated positioning accuracy was
better than one mini meter, capable of working in
different working modes to obtain multi-point samples
from the moon’s surface. The sample packaging was
jointly implemented by the sealing control unit and the
sealing packaging device. A two-stage packaging
design including primary and sealing packaging was
adopted to ensure that the lunar samples were some-
what differentiated and free from pollution. The
drilling and surface primary packages were designed
separately to differentiate and isolate the drilling and
surface samples, which were then transferred to the
sealed packaging device to avoid sample mixing
through physical isolation. To minimize the influence
of the lunar surface environment on the in-situ
properties of the lunar samples, sealing with ultra-
low leakage rate was achieved by a sealing ring and
metal extrusion before the explorer took off so that the
lunar samples were in a super-pure environment. The
lunar sampling mission of the Chang’E-5 ultimately
acquired about 1731 g of profile samples and surface
samples in the high latitude region of the moon (Yang
et al. 2021).
It can be seen that the Lunar sampling mission of
Chang ‘e-5 achieved low leakage rate sealing and
protected the lunar samples in a relatively good
manner. However, due to the limited influence of
drilling tool power and sampling method, the sampling
depth and quality were limited, and the lunar rock
samples were not taken, also the sample stratification
and compactness were not preserved.
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In summary, many innovative studies and sampling
missions have been carried out in China and world-
wide for lunar coring exploration (Table 1). Countries
have obtained lunar samples of different depths and
weights through various sampling equipment. How-
ever, the lunar coring operations that have been carried
out were ‘‘regular coring.’’ Preservation of the in-situ
lunar environment was absent in the coring process,
resulting in the loss of critical in-situ information such
as water, ice, and rare gases in the core samples,
substantially compromising the authenticity and sci-
entificity of samples and seriously restricting the
accurate exploration of lunar-based material
resources. Thus, there is a pressing need to refine the
scientific concept of lunar ICP-Coring, propose the
lunar ICP-Coring concept and improve the weakness
of coring technology, explore the fundamental prin-
ciple and technical device of lunar ICP-Coring, obtain
lunar samples with the in-situ environmental infor-
mation preserved, and promote the long-term devel-
opment of deep space strategy.
3 The scientific concept and fundamental principle
of ICP-Coring of lunar material resources
The regular lunar soil and rock samples obtained by
lunar sampling are separated from the lunar in-situ
environment, so they can not accurately convey the
information such as in-situ geological composition
and occurrence state or provide accurate scientific data
limiting the depth and breadth of lunar research.
Therefore, the study on lunar ICP-Coring is of great
significance for acquiring lunar in-situ information
and material resources in future lunar explorations.
Lunar ICP-Coring is a new scientific concept and
engineering practice. Its comprehensive and effective
development requires the intersection and integration
of multiple disciplines and fields. Based on the
extreme environment of the moon (great temperature
difference up to 313 °C, microgravity only 1/6 g, high
vacuum up to 1.01 9 10–12 Pa), the unique physical
and mechanical properties of lunar soil and rock and
the operational characteristics of space mechanism,
etc., the scientific concept and fundamental principle
of lunar ICP-Coring were refined, which mainly
involves preserving in-situ properties of lunar samples
in four aspects: composition, vacuum, bedding and
compactness.
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Table 1 Overview of lunar sampling in China and worldwide

Country Explorer Sample weight (kg) Drilling depth (cm) Sampling device

USSR (1970–1976) Luna-16 0.101 35 Hollow-rod drill sampler

Luna-20 0.055 25 Hollow-rod drill sampler
Luna-24 0.170 200 Slide rail impact sampling device
USA (1969–1972) Apollo-11 22.000 35 Press-fit lunar soil coring tube
Apollo-12 34.600 70 Press-fit lunar soil coring tube
Apollo-14 42.600 35 Press-fit lunar soil coring tube
Apollo-15 77.000 237 Rotary percussion drill rig
Apollo-16 95.000 223 Rotary percussion drill rig
Apollo-17 110.500 305 Rotary percussion drill rig
China(2020) Chang’E-5 1.731 200 Double-tube core barrel

3.1 The principle of core drilling with in-situ
material composition preservation in the lunar
environment (composition preservation
coring)
The actual sample composition in the lunar in-situ
environment includes mineral composition, water ice
resources, and volatile substances. Their physico-
chemical properties are the basis for studying the
composition of lunar materials and are of enormous
significance for exploring the formation and evolution
of the moon. External factors such as mechanical
disturbance and temperature rise during core drilling
will result in destructive impacts on in-situ samples at
different depths of the moon, for instance, water ice
evaporation, escape of volatile elements, and changes
in chemical properties of minerals, which will seri-
ously hinder the research on lunar water content
distribution, resource occurrence state, the proportion
of volatiles, mineral crystallization characteristics and
other scarce elements (Gao et al. 2020a, 2021a).
Hence, the coring process in the lunar in-situ envi-
ronment needs to preserve the fidelity of in-situ
material compositions to ensure the authenticity and
reliability of the in-situ data of lunar samples to
facilitate the accurate analysis of lunar material
resources and provide a guarantee for lunar scientific
research.
3.2 The principle of core drilling with in-situ
vacuum preservation in the lunar environment
(vacuum preservation coring)
Since the lunar surface vacuum degree is as high as
1.01 9 10–12 Pa, the lunar soil and rock are com-
pletely isolated from air in an extreme vacuum
environment (Ouyang 2005). In the ultra-high vacuum
environment, the particle spacing of samples is much
smaller than that of the ground, which results in the
prominent influence of van der Waals force between
grains, and the weak cohesion and tensile strength
between grains of lunar soil (Zhou et al. 2019). In
addition to changes in mechanical properties, physical
and chemical reactions such as oxidation may also
occur if the sample leaves the vacuum environment,
leading to qualitative changes in its original mineral
and microbial compositions. Consequently, such
changes will affect the scientific judgment of the
existence of trace elements and water ice, and the
sample will lose its scientific research value, which
has adverse effects on humanity’s endeavor in reveal-
ing the laws of the moon’s evolution. Thus, in the
process of in-situ condition-preserved core drilling,
storage, and transfer, preserving the vacuum degree of
the lunar soil and rock storage environment can avoid
the loss of water content and other volatile substances
in the sample and fill the gap in the field of lunar water
ice detection.

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3.3 The principle of core drilling
with preservation of the structural
characteristics of the in-situ strata in the lunar
environment (bedding preservation coring)
In the normal geological sequence of the moon bedrock
layer, the first rock layer formation is located in the
deep part of the moon bed. The rock layer formed later
is located relatively close to the moon’s surface. The
geological sequence analysis utilizes time sequence to
analyze the spatial distribution law of the geological
body and the depositional environment changes. It
truly reflects the regional structural characteristics and
evolution process (Gao et al. 2018). Conventional
coring loosens the original bedding surface of lunar
rock due to the disturbance of drilling power and
drilling speed, causing disorder in the rock formation,
affecting its spatial structure and in-situ geological
sequence (Gao et al. 2020b, 2022). The study of the
lunar in-situ environment and geological sequence
contributes to determining rock formation time and
composition according to the superimposed relation-
ship of the spatial geometric position of the moon rock
layer, leading to accurate classification, comparison,
and analysis of the sequence strata in the sample cores,
which provides valuable theoretical and measured data
for the zoning of lunar sedimentary facies, lithofacies
paleogeography reconstruction, and paleogeography
evolution. Preserving the in-situ bedding sequence of
lunar rock samples is also necessary for studying the
morphological characteristics, interrelationships, tem-
poral and spatial distribution patterns, and structural
changes of the lunar rock stratigraphic units in the in-
situ state, restoring the actual lunar geological struc-
tural features, and analyzing the evolutionary history
and the current status of the moon, leading to the
accurate evaluation of the material resource endow-
ment features at different depths.
3.4 The principle of core drilling with in-situ
material compactness preservation in the lunar
environment (compactness preservation
coring)
Lunar ICP-Coring is essentially a core drilling oper-
ation in the unique environment of the moon. A certain
degree of stress release will occur when the core leaves
its in-situ environment, destroying its initial compact-
ness and enlarging its pores. That is when changes
Page 7 of 20 46
happen in the real particle bonding and cementation
state, density, number of pores, and volume of the
core, which will affect the core’s physical and
mechanical properties such as cohesion, internal
friction angle, and strength (Gao et al.
2021b, 2021c). Therefore, lunar ICP-Coring has
exceptionally demanding requirements for preserving
the compactness of lunar soil and lunar rock. The
compactness of sample cores genuinely reveals the
characteristics of the in-situ state of lunar soil and rock
and reflect the occlusion between lunar soil and lunar
rock particles, which can prove the in-situ physical
and mechanical properties of the lunar soil and rock
and provide reliable data for the exploration and
research of lunar-based mineral resources. Preserving
the compactness of lunar soil and rock during the
coring process in the lunar in-situ environment is also
conducive to quantitatively describing the changing
laws of the sedimentary environment, inverting the
lunar structure process, and exploring the reconstruc-
tion of the sedimentary environment within a short
time span.
4 The conception and research progress of crucial
technologies of ICP-Coring system in a simulated
lunar environment
Based on the scientific connotation and fundamental
principles of lunar ICP-Coring, considering the impact
of extreme environments such as high vacuum,
microgravity, and extreme temperature differences
on the moon, and thoroughly absorbing and utilizing
previous research results and technical advantages in
China and abroad, the essential technical conception
of the lunar ICP-Coring system was proposed. We
conducted many studies, including developing a core
drilling robot, the ICP-Coring film-forming-while-
drilling technology, research on in-situ packaging and
storage technology, and constructing an ICP-Coring
testing and analysis platform in a simulated lunar
environment.
4.1 The development of unmanned self-adaptive
drilling devices for the extreme lunar
environment
Lunar ICP-Coring operates in extreme environments
such as lunar microgravity, high vacuum, drastic
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temperature difference, and intense radiation. There
are challenges such as complex conditions in the deep
part of the lunar base, unknown hardness of the lunar
rock, lack of visualization in the drilling process, and
the difficulty of heat dissipation. Under such circum-
stances, employing existing drilling tools in lunar
coring operations will encounter problems such as
poor environmental adaptability, excessive tool wear,
and mission termination. There is an urgent need for
innovative designs of drill bits and coring tools for the
unknown lunar geological environment (Xie et al.
2020).
(1) Retractable and flexible self-coring drill bit
Aiming at addressing the problems of unknown
lunar rock hardness and non-visualization of the
drilling process in the extreme lunar environ-
ment, an unmanned, retractable, and flexible
self-coring drill bit for the lunar environment
was designed; the blade posture of the drill bit
can adapt to the unknown lunar geological
environment through variation, thereby improv-
ing the efficiency of coring. When the coring
process is complete, during the lifting process,
the drill bit can retract the drill minimizing the
damage to the coring hole, the demand for
lifting force, the possibility of a drill jam, and
improving the coring process’s continuity. The
design of the flexible coring bit is shown in
Fig. 1. It comprises retractable blades, a drill bit,
a spring, a core barrel, and a positioning pin.
Among them, the retractable blades can freely
adjust the feed. In addition, its posture can be
controlled through the drill bit rotation to adapt
to different geological environments. The
retractable blades can freely rotate around the
rotating hinge, and its position is determined by
the shape of the drill and the positioning device.
The drill bit shape, stop position, and the various
Fig. 1 Design drawing of flexible core drill bit
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Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
operating modes of the retractable blades are
shown in Fig. 2. The positioning device limits
the rotational movement of the
retractable blades, controlling their fastening
via drilling pressure. The positioning device
contains components such as screws, springs,
pressure plates, and positioning pins. As shown
in Fig. 3, where the screw is connected to the
drill bit and floats with the core barrel, the spring
remains compressed during the entire operating
process so that the positioning device does not
connect with the drill bit in the absence of
drilling pressure.
(2) Universal joint coring robot
To cope with the unclear target of lunar core
drilling operations and solve the emergent situation
where high-strength lunar rock may cause a screech-
ing halt to the coring operation during the coring
process, we have designed a universal joint coring
robot capable of direction adjustment during the lunar
coring process. Thus, the coring robot can change its
drilling direction to avoid high-strength rocks that are
difficult to drill in the unknown lunar geological
environment. The design of the universal joint coring
robot is shown in Fig. 4, which is composed of an
actuator, a universal joint, a servo motor, a rotary
frame, bellows, and other components.
Among the components, the bellows mainly pre-
vent impurities such as lunar soil and rock debris from
falling into the actuator system to ensure its normal
operation. The actuator is responsible for transmitting
the power of the servo motor to the rotary frame to
control the rotation angle of the universal joint. It
includes a plurality of gears and a transmission shaft.
The bevel gear cooperates to convert the rotation in the
horizontal direction into the rotation in the vertical
direction. The spur gear set prevents interference of
the transmission structure and increases the torque.
The driveshaft is responsible for transmitting the
power of the gear to the rotary frame causing it to
rotate. The supporting shaft is responsible for sup-
porting the rotary frame in the universal joint to ensure
that the virtual shaft in the rotary frame is in a
crisscross shape; both the driveshaft and the support
shaft can rotate freely at the groove of the universal
joint. The specific structure of the transmission
components and the schematic diagram of the univer-
sal joint robot after rotation are shown in Fig. 5.
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
Fig. 2 Diagram of various
positions of
retractable blades
Fig. 3 Design drawing of
the positioning device
Fig. 4 Design drawing of universal joint coring robot
The operating process of the universal joint coring
robot is as follows: when encountering rocks that are
difficult to drill into, the propulsion unit of the coring
device is retracted, and then a direction change is
achieved through the universal joint robot so that the
coring robot avoids the hard rock and continue its
sampling operation (Fig. 6). Given the nature of
unequal velocity of a single cross-axis universal joint,
that is, the angular velocities at both ends of the
Page 9 of 20 46
universal joint are not identical, and the rotation
direction of a single universal joint robot gives the
corer only the option to obtain samples in the oblique
direction in the subsequent coring operation, uniform
velocity sample coring in a vertical direction is
achieved through the combination of two universal
joint robots.
4.2 Film-forming while drilling, and in-situ
packaging storage technologies ICP-Coring
Lunar microgravity, high vacuum, extreme tempera-
ture difference, and other extreme environments have
seriously impacted the preservation of in-situ infor-
mation of samples during traditional core drilling. The
film-forming while drilling ICP-Coring and in-situ
packaging and storage technologies to address such
issues were proposed. The in-situ information of the
samples is preserved through the innovatively
designed core storage device during the core drilling
and sample storage stage. It also explains the central
mechanism of realizing ICP-Coring.
123
46 Page 10 of 20
Fig. 5 The structure of the
transmission components
and the universal joint robot
after rotation
Fig. 6 Operating process of
single-double universal joint
coring robots
(1) Film-forming while drilling technology ICP-
Coring
The ultimate challenge in lunar ICP-Coring lies
in how to achieve real-time packing and in-situ
sealing of the sample core in the limited space of
the core barrel during the dynamic coring
process under the harsh lunar environment such
as high vacuum and extreme temperature
difference, thereby maintaining the in-situ bed-
ding, compactness, and composition of cores,
and protecting the in-situ occurrence state of
material resources, and accurately determining
the in-situ material abundance. In response to
the challenge, the viscoelastic in-situ self-heal-
ing sealing principle and technology, enabling
self-triggered film-forming and real-time seal-
ing in a low-temperature vacuum environment
123
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
and limited space were innovatively developed.
The principle and technology are based on the
viscoelasticity theory and the dynamic
reversibility principle of supramolecular struc-
ture, combined with the creep and self-healing
properties of viscoelastic bodies. They are
developed to achieve the formation of a sealing
film on the surface of the core during core
drilling in a low temperature and vacuum
environment and completely seal and cover
the core to obtain the most authentic composi-
tion, properties, and state of the lunar core.
As shown in Fig. 7a, we imagine that a self-
healing elastic body is preset inside the coring
tube. When the core starts to enter the coring
tube and comes into contact with the viscoelas-
tic body, dynamic bond dissociation occurs in
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46 Page 11 of 20 46

Fig. 7 Schematic diagrams

of film-forming while
drilling. a Coring process
b Sealing process at the
bottom of the core

the molecular bonds of the elastic body. As a
result, self-healing viscoelastic bodies consoli-
date at the bottom of the core after the core is
fully inserted, self-healing through dynamic
bonding such as hydrogen bonding and dynam-
ically seals to completely wrap around the core
to achieve ICP-Coring (as shown in Fig. 7b).
In order to implement the principle and process
conception mentioned above in the unique
environment of the moon, this study
innovatively designed and developed a poly-
borosiloxane sealing film composed of mont-
morillonite nano-networks, which has the
advantages of self-forming, effective self-heal-
ing, molecular barrier, and being pollution-free.
The reversible dissociation and association
between B and O atoms give the sealing film
excellent viscoelasticity and self-forming prop-
erties, ensuring that the film material adaptively
coats the core during the dynamic coring

Fig. 8 Diagram of the

mechanism of the fidelity
preservation film.
a Diagram of the synthesis
mechanism of the fidelity
preservation film.
b Diagram of the dynamic
bond dissociation and
reconstruction mechanism
of the fidelity preservation
film

123
46 Page 12 of 20 Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46

Fig. 9 Self-forming performance of sealing film. a Rheological test diagram of self-healing sealing film. b Self-forming simulation
experiment. c Low temperature creep experiment of self-healing sealing film

process and maintains the bedding structure and
density of the core (Fig. 8a). The rheological
properties are shown in Fig. 9a; the storage
modulus curve and loss modulus curve intersect
at 1.4 Hz (G0 ¼ G00 ). The storage modulus of the
film material is lower than the loss modulus
when the frequency is less than 1.4 Hz, indicat-
ing that the material has a flow molding property
like ‘‘liquid.’’ Further, the dynamic molding
experiment results show that the film material
can conform to the core surface and cover it in a
narrow space at room temperature (Fig. 9b).
The film material was further stretch tested
under a simulated lunar environment with low-
temperature conditions (- 20 °C) (Fig. 9c). It
was found still to creep slowly, demonstrating
the excellent self-forming properties of the
sealing film.
The sealing film has excellent self-healing
properties because of weak intermolecular
cross-linking (formed by unreacted –OH in
PDMS) and dynamic coordination bond
(formed between B and O in the polymer),
which enables real-time sealing at the bottom of
the sample core while preventing the impact,
collision, tearing and other external forces in the
coring process from destroying the integrity of
the film material (Fig. 8b). Figure 10a reveals

Fig. 10 Self-healing performance of sealing film. a Self-healing behavior experiment at room temperature. b Self-healing behavior
experiment in low temperature. c Healing efficiency of sealing film

123
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46 Page 13 of 20 46

the highly effective self-healing capability of
the film material. The test results show that the
film sections were lightly attached after being
cut, and it self-healed in 30 s and did not break
off even with twisting. The quantitative charac-
terization of the healing efficiency of the film
(Fig. 10c) indicated that the material’s self-
healing efficiency was as high as 99%. The
damage-healing test was also carried out under
simulated low-temperature lunar conditions
(- 20 °C). The results showed that the material
healed itself and could be stretched within
15 min (Fig. 10b), showing the superior low-
temperature healing capability of the sealing
film, which is suitable for the extreme lunar
environment.
The composite of nano-composite fillers con-
structs a three-dimensional barrier network,
which further boosts the film’s protection of
the material information inside the sample core.
We constructed the film material’s excellent
molecular barrier capability using the three-
dimensional nano-barrier network technology.
As shown in Fig. 11a, when 10 wt% filler was
added, the barrier performance of the film
material reached 4.74 9 10–11 gm/(m2spa);
the healing barrier performance is shown in
Fig. 11b. The initial water vapor permeability
coefficient of the film material was
5.19 9 10–11 gm/(m2spa), and four damage-
nology, in-situ packaging and storage of lunar in-situ
healing tests were performed. The recorded
condition-preserved cores is also the key to lunar ICP-
water vapor permeability coefficients of the film
material were 5.20 9 10–11, 5.34 9 10–11,
5.54 9 10–11, and 5.75 9 10–11 gm/(m2spa).
The performance of the film material remained
consistent and exhibited sound barrier and
healing capability, capable of constant long-
term preservation of the material information in
the core.
The moon is still an unmanned planet waiting to
be developed, and complete protection of the
lunar environment needs to be considered for
lunar exploration missions. The main chemical
components of lunar soil/rock are SiO2, Al2O3,
FeO, MgO, CaO, etc. (Xu 1985), which do not
have mutual chemical interactions with poly-
borosiloxane and montmorillonite nano lamel-
lar fillers; hence no chemical reaction and
erosion will occur. We conducted simulation
experiments using rock cores from the earth
whose main composition includes SiO2, FeO,
etc. The XRD spectrum shows (Fig. 12) that
there is no significant change in the core
composition before and after the sealing film
is coated, which proves that the material does
not change the composition properties of the
rock formation and is pollution-free.
(2) In-situ packaging and storage technology for
condition-preserved coring
In addition to the film-forming-while-drilling tech-

Fig. 11 Barrier performance of sealing film. a Variation of water vapor permeability coefficient with different filler content. b Change
of water vapor permeability coefficient of sealing film after healing from multiple damages

123
46 Page 14 of 20
Fig. 12 XRD spectrum of
rock samples before and
after sealing film coating
Coring. Therefore, storage and transportation with in-
situ environment preservation after core drilling
necessitate focusing on overcoming technologies for
preserving the in-situ information of samples from
different depths in extreme environments and long-
term storage in an in-situ environment to achieve
lasting and highly accurate preservation of in-situ
information of lunar samples.
In terms of preserving the in-situ compactness of
lunar samples, ‘we have proposed a technique and
method for pressure detection between lunar rock and
soil based on the combination of depth calculation and
precision sensing. Based on the pressure data between
the lunar rock and soil, the in-situ condition-preserved
chamber can be filled with an inert gas of the same
pressure without destroying the fidelity film and
keeping the vacuum of the sample, to help maintain
the in-situ compactness of the lunar sample. A multi-
tube lunar in-situ condition-preserved storage cham-
ber is designed to preserve the in-situ environmental
information of lunar samples at different depths. The
sealed lunar samples will be stored in the coring
device. Upon returning to the lunar surface, the coring
device will be positioned and stored in the tube of the
sample in-situ condition-preserved chamber. Each
tube independently stores the lunar-based samples
from different depths and does not interfere with each
other. Simultaneously, with the help of in-situ envi-
ronmental information sensing and feedback control
technology in the coring process, the exact recon-
structed environment identical to the in-situ
123
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
environment is provided in each tube of the in-situ
condition-preserved chamber to maintain its in-situ
properties meeting the in-situ environment preserva-
tion requirements of lunar samples from different
depths. We also designed an in-situ condition-pre-
served sample storage device based on the principle of
magnetism, which is composed of a coring tube, an
outer barrel, a rotating inner tube, a magnet, rock-
breaking parts, sealing parts, and other parts. The
structural design is shown in Fig. 13. Its operating
principle is that the collected lunar rock sample drives
the impact magnet to move to the upper part of the
coring tube until it reaches the coring designed height.
At this point, the receiving magnet attracts the impact
magnet, thereby accelerating its movement towards
the receiving magnet. Concurrently, the impact mag-
net will break the weakened lever and release the
synchronization card. The synchronization card syn-
chronizes the rotary inner tube with the outer coring
barrel. The inner coring tube remains non-rotary,
creating a rotation speed difference between the rotary
inner tube and the inner coring tube. The sealing cloth
can be twisted and deformed by utilizing this speed
difference, causing the lunar rock to be cut off,
completing the sealing operation. The same speed
difference can be used to drive the rock-breaking
slider to slide out along the slide rail so that the pointed
tip of the rock-breaking slider pushes into the lunar
rock, aided by the impact force of the impact module,
causing the lunar rock to be cut off. A specific volume
of debris holding space is reserved on the upper part of
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46 Page 15 of 20 46

Fig. 13 Structural design

drawing of the storage
device

the storage module to provide a temporary storage
location for the rock debris/lunar soil that needs to be
discharged during the drilling process to keep it from
affecting the subsequent drilling and coring process.
4.3 Development of an ICP-Coring testing
and analysis platform in a simulated lunar
environment
In the lunar coring equipment development and
equipment ground experiment, NASA and the Center
for Astrobiology have jointly developed the MARTE
extraterrestrial sampling System, which has a power of
150 W, a diameter of 48 mm, and a core length of
200 mm (Stoker et al. 2008). Harbin Institute of
Technology has developed a series of conventional
drilling and sampling test platforms for lunar soil, such
as 2, 1, and 0.5-m bionic coring apparatus, and carried
out relevant experiments, but the extreme lunar
occurrence environment was not considered (Zhang
et al. 2015). Beijing University of Aeronautics and
Astronautics developed a lunar surface drilling vac-
uum environment simulation device with a load
vacuum of 10 Pa. The temperature range is - 40 °C
to ? 80 °C, and the effective drilling depth is
2000 mm (Ding et al. 2016). In summary, the existing
development of lunar coring equipment has the
disadvantages of low power, low torque and limited
coring depth, which cannot realize the simulation of
extreme temperature difference and high vacuum
degree in lunar extreme environment.
Carrying out ICP-Coring tests in a simulated lunar
environment is a prerequisite for exploring and
exploiting lunar geological resources. Therefore,
establishing an ICP-Coring testing and analysis
platform in a simulated lunar environment will be
conducive to exploring efficient rock-breaking prin-
ciples and testing lunar ICP-Coring technology.
Moreover, full-scale drilling tests based on lunar soil
and rock simulants can be carried out to simulate and
test an entire multi-parameter coupling ICP-Coring
process at different depths and perform real-time
monitoring and recording of changes in the coring
environmental vacuum, temperature, coring torque,
and drilling pressure, etc., thereby providing a testing
platform and technical support for the manufacturing
technology of a lunar ICP-Coring robot.
(1) Overview of the experimental platform
To study the process of core drilling and coring
in a simulated lunar environment, we developed
an ICP-Coring testing and analysis platform in a
lunar-based simulated environment (Fig. 14),
which can perform relevant tests on the envi-
ronmental suitability and reliability under the
single or multiple coupling effects of different
occurrence depths, vacuum, high and low tem-
peratures of the moon. The lunar environmental
vacuum degree is 1.01 9 10–12 Pa, the highest
temperature reaches 130 °C, while the lowest
temperature can be - 183 °C, with a maximum
temperature difference of 313 °C, and there is no
apparent magnetic field. To simulate drilling
operations under such an environment, the ICP-
Coring testing and analysis platform in the
simulated lunar environment comprises a dril-
ling system, a lunar environment simulation
system, and a testing and analysis system. The
drilling system includes a rotary motor, an
impact motor, and a footage motor, the lunar
environment simulation system includes a

123
46 Page 16 of 20
Fig. 14 ICP-Coring testing
and analysis platform in a
simulated lunar
environment
loading test chamber, a liquid nitrogen refriger-
ation module, a heating module, a vacuum
module, and a control module, the testing and
analysis system includes various sensors and a
central control platform for detecting tempera-
ture, torque, drilling pressure, displacement, and
drilling speed to visualize the drilling process.
In conclusion, the testing and analysis platform
can simulate the full coverage of the lunar
environment temperature range, the maximum
vacuum degree simulation of existing technical
conditions, and the simulation of different
occurrence depths of lunar rocks. It can perform
sampling tests with different powers and drilling
methods.
Fig. 15 Lunar environment
simulation system
123
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
(2) Lunar environment simulation system of the
platform
The lunar environment simulation system
(Fig. 15) is the key to simulating the lunar
environment’s high vacuum and extreme tem-
perature difference on the experimental plat-
form. It adopts the tight sealing technology of
customized magnetic fluid leveraging magnetic
fluid colloidal solution properties such as non-
precipitation, non-coagulation, non-decomposi-
tion, high saturation magnetization, leading to
advantages such as lasting service life, wear-
free, high reliability, and excellent adaptability.
The achievable ultimate vacuum of the system
under a no-load state is 1 9 10–2 Pa, and the
leakage rate is 1 9 10–12 Pa.m3/sec. In
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46 Page 17 of 20 46

addition, it adopts an electric heating plate drilling resistance torque was 7.5 Nm (Wang et al.
heating system and uses direct liquid nitrogen 2016). The design parameters of the fidelity coring
evaporation for cooling, and the test chamber is testing and analysis platform in a simulated environ-
equipped with temperature and vacuum degree ment can be planned as shown in Table 2, by
sensors. referencing the drilling parameter planning of lunar
(3) Related design parameters of the experimen- surface sampling institutions that has been carried out,
tal platform considering the needs of experimenting and research-
ing drilling under a simulated environment, and
In subsurface drilling on extraterrestrial celestial
combining with the lunar drilling capacity design
bodies, the rotation speed of drill pipes is generally
and analysis of simulated lunar rock surface drilling
limited to 500 r/min due to environmental and
load test.
technical constraints. For example, the rated speed of
the ALSD system in the Apollo mission was 280
r/min, and its impact frequency was 37.8 Hz; the
5 Conclusion
maximum impact work was 4.4 J (Haggerty 1978).
Some scholars used numerical simulation software to
Deep space exploration is of great significance to
establish a mechanical model of the lunar soil and
exploiting space resources and promoting cutting-
drilling tools to dynamically simulate the process of
edge science and technology. It is a complete mani-
the drilling tools drilling into the lunar soil. The
festation of a country’s capabilities in cutting-edge
recorded drilling resistance was about 300 N, and the
science and technology. The moon has become the

Table 2 Parameters
Item Design parameters Remarks

Vacuum environment The net size of the outer Drilling parameters such as drill pipe torque, impact work, weight-on-
simulation chamber diameter of the outer cylinder bit are designed based on the existing lunar sample hardness and rock
size is drillability; the temperature is based on the lunar limit temperature
U 780 9 1200 mm difference and the existing technical conditions for saturation design;
the vacuum degree simulation design is based on the existing
The net size of the sample
technical conditions
inner diameter is
U 400 9 1000 mm
Effective drilling depth 850 mm
Rotation adjustment 0 * 215 r/min
speed
Drill pipe torque range 0 * 300 Nm
Impact adjustment 0 * 30.3 Hz
frequency range
Impact work 10 J
Adjusting range of 0 * 500 mm/min
footage speed
Drilling pressure 0 * 3000 N
adjustment range
Load-free ultimate B 1  102 Pa
vacuum
Load drilling vacuum B 10 Pa
Vacuum time Depressurization time: \ 12 h
Ambient temperature of - 185 °C * 200 °C
vacuum simulator
Sealing method Magnetic fluid seal

123
46 Page 18 of 20
first choice for deep space exploration because of its
unique spatial location and abundance of scarce
natural resources.
(1) The lunar sampling represented by the US
Apollo program, the Luna program of the
former Soviet Union, and China’s Chang’e-5
lunar mission are all ‘‘ordinary sampling’’,
ignoring the preservation of the lunar in-situ
environment, and there is an issue of sampling
depth and fidelity. The problem is that essential
in-situ information such as volatile gas, com-
pactness, and stratigraphic sequence in the
obtained core samples is lost, restricting
research on major issues such as lunar resource
exploration, the origin of life, and the evolution
of geological structures.
(2) Lunar ICP-Coring is a new scientific concept
and engineering practice. Its comprehensive and
practical development requires the intersection
and integration of multiple disciplines and
fields. The ‘‘4 Ps’’ coring (preservation of
composition, vacuum, bedding, compactness)
has been proposed as the central scientific
concept of ICP-Coring based on the extreme
lunar environment (extreme temperature differ-
ence, intense radiation, microgravity, ultra-high
vacuum), the unique physical and mechanical
properties of lunar rock and the operating
characteristics of space institutions, etc.
(3) Based on the scientific meaning and fundamen-
tal principles of lunar ICP-Coring, the critical
technical conception of the lunar ICP-Coring
system was proposed. Numerous research and
development have been carried out, including
developing a drilling and coring robot and film-
forming while drilling technology for ICP-
Coring, in-situ packaging, and storage technol-
ogy research, and establishing an ICP-Coring
testing and analysis platform in a simulated
lunar environment. The research results provide
a theoretical and practical foundation for the
development of lunar exploration and ICP-
Coring robots, as well as research ideas and
technical references for the ICP-Coring on other
extraterrestrial objects in the future.
Acknowledgements This study was financially supported by
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U2013603),
123
Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. (2022) 8:46
the Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and
Entrepreneurial Teams (No. 2019ZT08G315), and the
Postgraduate Innovation Development Fund Project of
Shenzhen University (315-0000470824).
Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors state that they have no
financial and personal conflicts.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Com-
mons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any med-
ium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the
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