By Chris Looper
Chris Looper is Chief Engineer of the EVA Branch of the Astronaut Office, and is splitting time as a test subject and as Traverse Director of Desert RATS 2010.
Thursday, September 2
Day 3 is in the books. Rover A that we are in is very live-able, even though it is the first generation concept cabin. The chassis (wheeled portion) of the rover is, I believe, also a first of its kind concept vehicle that has been put through the ringer and still runs like a champ. It can take you anywhere you would want to go in the type of terrain we are in here in northern Arizona.
We traversed westward today approximately 5 km, and are camped at the northern base of a cinder cone volcano that has a lava flow extended from its base towards the north. It is amazing terrain to be allowed to explore. We are trying to steadily make small improvements in our arrangement of stuff inside the rover. Today, we duct taped the window shades into the most efficient configuration for keeping the sun out of our eyes while also helping to keep the cabin cool.
Our present location is 10 km or so to the west of the highway, and so very dark outside. The two rovers are parked about 20 feet apart for test purposes. In a real space mission, we would probably be docked tonight so that we can conference with the other crew easier either tonight or early in the morning. Tomorrow, we are to drive always within line of sight of rover B and execute the day’s plan using coordination between the two rovers only. It will be an interesting experiment which I look forward to.