Journals on desert trip.

Sunday the 7^th of Feb. Pre-desert trip.

The trip started off in San Jose where Mark Leon and myself took a government van to the desert. We were going to be meeting up w/ Seth Carter (A NASA technician) who has already stayed in town for over a week. So far he has been working with the recording, set-up, and transmission of live video of the robotics project. The drive was very long and took about 8 to 9 hours to finally reach the location. In the area of the test site we saw mostly truckers in the area and a vast area of land and desert. The population was so little that the place looked like a ghost town. Other than a handful of gas stations, hotels, & fast food stops there wasn’t much in town. We arrived at the hotel at 1 a.m. in the morning and at that point we called it a night.

Monday the 8^th of Feb. Day 1 in the desert.

Around 9 o’clock or so we got up and drove about 5 miles to the testing site. When we reached the site we saw a trailer, satellite and a group of trucks. There is a crew of about 6 to 8 people working with the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle). It was a sunny day in the middle of the desert and around 12 or so you could see a mirage. The mirage was quit amazing and it looked like a lake in the distance w/ the reflection of the mountains on the ground. There is a large satellite that is hooked up for internet activity and connection. The ROV was about half a mile away from the trucks and trailer. The trailer has a complete setup of computers and equipment. The programming of the ROV is very detailed and there are a lot of steps to get each part of the robot to work.

Live media software was hooked up (Video camera, NT workstation, & other equipment) to get the recording and live coverage of the ROV. 4 wheel drive vehicles were used to get to the trailers and back to the ROV. During the day one man got his truck stuck in the sand. Seth came and tugged his truck out with a cable and Seth’s utility vehicle. In the evening the weather got warm & cool at the same time. It was relaxing to be in the desert at the moment. The area is very isolated and there was no noise other than the power generator that is used to give power to some of the computers and equipment. Later in the afternoon we got lunch and ate back at the site. I thought it was very interesting being in that environment and seeing the technology that is being used.

Tuesday the 9^th of Feb.

Today was the last day in the desert. There isn’t to much going on in town other than maybe lotto, hundreds of truckers, and flat desert lands. Our hotel was right outside the thermometer and it was sort of interesting to look at. It will be interesting to see what kind of robotic technology will be out there in the time to come. Seth Carter and the others working on the project will be staying in town for the remaining month of February and will be further testing out the ROV. Seth with be having live real media coverage of the ROV 6 days a week. I hope you enjoy the information and live coverage of the ROV roaming around the sand, rocks and desert.

Signing off,

Damien Canerot