24 Hour Mars-1 Humvee Rover Traverse With Suitport and Many Other HMP Activities
Photo Set: HMP RS - July 24, 2009
Five new arrivals flew in this morning, including Dr Alain Berinstain (Director, Planetary and Space Exploration Astronomy, CSA), Dr Mike Daly (Senior Engineer, MDA), Matthew Izawa (University of Western Ontario), Terry from Grise Fiord, and Michael Morrow and Jeff Thrasher from National Geographic, who will be filming HMP activities for the program Storm Worlds.
A 24 hour Mars-1 Humvee Rover traverse with the new suitport got underway this afternoon. The suitport was installed by the Hamilton Sundstrand team, Addy Overbeeke and Montira Satienpoch. Dr Mark Helper (Geologist, MMAMA) will be performing EVAs as an astronaut/field geologist who is unfamiliar with any prior work at Haughton crater, conducting a day-long traverse to learn as much as possible about the geology of the Haughton site. The traverse simulates, as closely as possible, the constraints of doing such work on the lunar surface, particularly in the times available for EVAs, for roving in a pressurized LER (Lunar Exploration Rover) and for doing field work in a space suit.
Also involved in the traverse planning and research this season is Dr Essam Heggy, a Planetary Scientist at JPL. Dr Heggy has brought some very high tech gear that will be used on the Mars-1 Humvee Rover traverses, including a Ground Penetrating Radar system and other instruments that can scan below the ground surface on different frequencies. Dr Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director) spent the day supporting the Rover's communication needs, and the National Geographic team got some beautiful footage of the Rover and the "astronaut" EVAs.
Several other HMP activities are going on simultaneously. The CRUX drill team, Dr Brian Glass (Senior Scientist, Drilling Automation, NASA Ames) Dr Sarah Thompson (NASA Ames) reached their goal at Drill Hill today. Dr Tim Barfoot (PI, UTIAS) and his PhD student, Paul Furgale, did some celestial navigation with the robot today, heading towards Lake Orbiter. Dr Mike Daly, Matthew Izawa, Pat Carle (University of Toronoto) and Marwan Hussein (systems engineer, OPTECH) went to the hydrothermal vents this afternoon. Matt Turnock, an MSc Student in E-Health at McMaster University, is continuing to give medical training and conduct mock telemedicine scenarios with various HMP participants and remote doctors. Dr Alain Berinstain is hard at work in the greenhouse.
Canadian Museum of Nature researcher, Natalia Rybczynski, and her team are visiting the HMP Research Station today. Natalia and her team found a fossil last year in Haughton Crater that points to the missing link between seals and land mammals. She gave a talk at the HMP Research Station last season after her exciting find. We are honored by her presence!
Photo Set: HMP RS - July 24, 2009
