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Field
Report
April
25, 2003
Salar Grande, Atacama Desert, Chile
Agenda
- Remote science investigations on west side of salar
- Endurance test of mission planning/executive and navigator
Status and Progress
- Concluded remote science investigation. We concluded the fifth day
of remote science operations by collecting sample data sets from the
traverse down the salar. In total Hyperion 28 data sets of imagery,
spectra and fluorescence microscopy. We will be analyzing these data
sets in the coming year, both to better understand the biology and
geology of Salar Grande and to design the instruments and methods for
our investigation next year. This year also provided many important
lessons for ensuring effective science investigations and operations.
The remote science exercise was invaluable preparation for future
long-distance traverse.
- Conducted endurance navigation experiment. After finishing
collecting science data at the extreme south of our operational area we
gave Hyperion a goal to the northwest approximately 3 kilometers
distant. The Mission Planner computed a minimum time and energy path
and generated waypoints every 30m (the resolution of the digital
elevation model). Hyperion began executing the plan traveling 10s
meters per command. The area of its departure was soft sand with
slopes exceeding 20° so there were several instances Hyperion required
a few moments of supervised teleoperation to guide it to a best path to
avoid local terrain features. Hyperion has very little difficulty with
near-field navigation (1-6m ahead) however we have verified that
far-field navigation (5-30m ahead) as an important technical challenge
to this work. Still in this rolling terrain Hyperion did achieve 580m
(+/-5%) from a single command. Analysis of ground truth data will
confirm the exact distance.
- Achieved single-command, 1km navigation. In late afternoon Hyperion
achieved a distance of 1160 (+/-5%) in a single command from the
operator. This command, a goal location, was processed by the Mission
Planner to generate a best path, and the Mission Executive then
commanded waypoints to the Navigator, which evaluates near-field
terrain and avoids obstacles. Hyperion was traveling rolling terrain
with slopes limited to 15°. Its long run was stopped as the sun set
and stereo cameras were unable to distinguish obstacles in the terrain
ahead. One kilometer single-command traverse is something that must be
repeated thousands of times to be completely reliable, but it is an
important achievement for it to reach this distance for the first time.
Upcoming
- Endurance navigation
- Soil mobility and locomotion power experiments.
- Communications system tests ( VHF long range transmission)
Weather
Morning: Clear
Afternoon: Clear and bright
Evening: High clouds, cloudy by sunset
Vulture Count: 4
Quote of the Day
"Radio check, radio check?" "Czechoslovakia." "Wow!"
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