Tested on my birthday

Was the first day of testing in my Human Operated Robotic Science Evaluation (HORSE) project. It was stressful getting ready... I was being a bit overbearing with the remote science team, who were asking for last-minute changes (past their deadline for such). The file transfer route was changed once again to enable hopeforyou's automated scripts to run, while getting full satellite data throughput (70-80 KBytes/sec or so). It worked, although there were some actions done manually. We finally went out to the wilderness around 4pm, and ran simulated Mars rover operations for three hours. Reasonably successfully. Team members seem a bit relieved, de-stressed, and bone-tired...

I got lots of happy-birthday email today -- 15 different people, plus LiveJournal, plus cards from L and Vicky and J. My sister Vicky left me a present in camp -- two bags of truffles, some Irish creme, and a sweater. I was *very* surprised...

After the simulation was done (we missed dinner) I had a piece of Valrhona birthday cake that I had smuggled in from home. And a dozen of my friends here sat outside in the midnight sun, brought out several bottles, and toasted my birthday. And camp life, and this barren, harshly-beautiful place.

Mug shot

Here's a photo yesterday (84k) of our ( HORSE field team. )

More photos

( More photos from today (about 300k total) )

Rain, rain...

Yes, it's the middle of the day... I'm stuck in a tent next to AR and V because it has suddenly started pouring cold rain outside. I've been out in much worse, but our panoramic camera can't handle much more than drizzle, it's not ruggedized. With six guys and a spacesuit in here, it smells... a bit like a locker room. Overlaid by alkaline fine dust.

Earlier this morning, we had to wait because solar activity knocked down the performance of our satellite link to unusable levels. First solar storms under fair skies, now rain. (shrug)



Otherwise, all software is now apparently working.

Sigh...

I ache, I'm soaked, cold, and hungry and I've had 30-knot sleet blasting in my face, and it was all for nothing. Urgh. A day lost. Well, we got a repeater link tested, but had to scrub the simulation at Site 9 because the weather rapidly worsened after we left base camp. And we probably killed one of our ruggedized Rocky computers... bouncing down a 45-degree slope comprised of half-meter craggy boulders isn't easy for hard drives.