🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi all,

The following is a status update on the Pele Rover Mission. The Pele
lunar rover mission concept is a proposal developed by a joint team of
the University of Hawaii, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Johnson
Space Center, McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, the Lavochkin Association,
and Brown University. The mission concept proposes to explore issues
in lunar science and planetary volcanism that were left unanswered by
Apollo. The Pele team is currently conducting field trials with a
Marsokhod rover in the Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. A major focus of these
tests is to evaluate the use of advanced teleoperations methods (e.g.,
virtual environment based control, high-fidelity stereo video based
telepresence) for operating the rover from geographically distributed
remote control stations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

		      Pele Mission Status Report
	    Hawaii Volcano Observatory -- Kilauea, Hawaii
			     05-Feb-1995
   
   This past weekend saw the successful accomplishment of two critical
   technical milestones that needed to be accomplished prior to shipping
   the rover to Kilauea. Specifically, from Ames, Butler Hine was able to
   operate the Marsokhod, which was located in McDonnell Douglas'
   Robotics Lab in Huntington Beach, using Ames' SGI-based Virtual
   Environment Vehicle Interface (VEVI) software. He retrieved images
   from the sterescopic cameras mounted on the mast and commanded the
   rover to traverse out of the lab, into a corridor, around several
   doors and then outside (several images of this test will be available
   on the Ames and MDA home pages in the next day or two).
   
   Simultaneously, Karl Pfitzer employed the PIN site control software
   that has been under development for the JASON phase of field
   operations. He was able to make several adjusments involving the
   capture of image and state vector data that was broadcast over the
   network and subsequently also drove the rover.
   
   These tests demonstrated that the core elements for the upcoming field
   activities are in place. The biggest open variables are a)
   network-related issues that can only be identified once operations
   start phasing in at the test site, and b) the arm software. With
   regards to the former, the NSI and EDS comm equipment is scheduled to
   arrive in Hawaii on 8 February, with check-out testing beginning the
   next day. As for arm control, the basic software is written, but there
   are still some interrupt-handling processes associated with the motion
   control card that need to be resolved. Jay Steele has the action item
   to work these as well as a number of minor sensor algorithm
   adjustments during the next few days at Ames using the MEL testbed
   vehicle.
   
   Based on this progress, the rover team in Huntington Beach is now
   packing the Marsokhod and the support equipment for on-schedule
   delivery to the shipper tomorrow (Monday). It will arrive in Hawaii on
   Thursday, 9 February. Karl and Gary will also deliver the baseline PIN
   control software to EDS and WilTel for installation on the PIN site
   computers.
   
   The following is the top-level schedule of major events for the next
   week leading up to the start of the Mars science testing on Monday, 13
   February. A more detailed schedule is available for those members of
   the technical team requiring better insight.
   
   Sunday - 5 February - pack the Marsokhod and support equipment 

   Monday - 6 February - deliver the Marsokhod to the shipper 
		       - Dave James and Greg Loboda leave for Hawaii 
		       - MDA will provide the baseline PIN rover
			 control software to EDS 

   Tuesday - 7 February - organizational meeting at the Hawaiian 
			  Volcano Observatory 

   Wednesday - 8 February - NSI and EDS communications network gear
			    arrive in Hilo 

   Thursday - 9 February - Marsokhod reaches Hawaii 
			- rest of Marsokhod technical team arrives 
			- begin communications network check-out 

   Friday - 10 February - begin Marsokhod check-out tests 
			- demonstrate VEVI and PIN control from Ames
			  and McDonnell Douglas

   Saturday - 11 February - demonstrate rover operation at the field site

   Sunday - 12 February - contingency day

   Monday - 13 February - begin Mars science tests
   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For additional information on Marsokhod and JASON activities please
check the following WWW pages:

NASA Ames Intelligent Mechanisms Group
  http://maas-neotek.arc.nasa.gov/
  http://maas-neotek.arc.nasa.gov/marsokhod

McDonnell Douglas
  http://pat.mdc.com/HB/new/Planetary/planetary.html

JASON Foundation
  http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/JASON.html

_______________________________________________________________________________
 "San Francisco has only one                        Terry Fong <terry@cmu.edu>
  drawback - it's hard to leave..."        Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon
                -- Rudyard Kipling         Pittsburgh, PA 15213   412-268-1416
-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
 "San Francisco has only one                        Terry Fong <terry@cmu.edu>
  drawback - it's hard to leave..."        Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon
                -- Rudyard Kipling         Pittsburgh, PA 15213   412-268-1416