Log Book for January 7, 2011
Science Report 3
Lucinda Land Reporting
We had a successful first day starting up Sandstorm, now lovingly called "Sandy" by a Crew 97 member. All systems were nominal. Our XO drove Sandstorm around the first floor of the Hab otherwise known as the lab. Driving the rover consists of using a joystick and watching a monitor to tell where it is heading. As a test of this and his abilities to drive the rover, we moved Sandstorm to the second floor of the Hab and our XO stayed on the first floor where he was remotely driving it. He drove it around the living quarters and into the Commander's room to experience its maneuverability.
Three main components are needed to drive the rover, a laptop or monitor with keyboard, a router, and a joystick (keyboard controls are possible as well). We needed to test the range of the router with the rover. The router signal range has a limit and is how the rover receives commands from the joystick. We had no problems with the rover receiving a signal anywhere inside the Hab. The XO suited up and decided to do an EVA with the rover to test the router signal strength reaching outside the Hab.
First the XO took Sandstorm inside the airlock and we tested the signal strength in there by driving it around. It was good. Next the XO took the rover outside the Hab and put Sandstorm on the level ground with him. The rover was still receiving signals from the router inside the Hab. The XO and the rover were out on an EVA for over an hour as he followed Sandstorm west of the Hab, Sandstorm went a total of 193.12 meters. It is not conclusive yet, but it is thought that that rover's batteries died before the router's signal strength lessened. Sandstorm's batteries last on average about one hour.
It was a good day for Sandstorm and her tests. Next, we will test her GPS logging, mapping, snapshot, and Gigapan imagery capabilities. More tests to come. These tests will take place on further EVA's outside the Hab.