Kevin's Blog

So what is our project? We’re a group of scientists and engineers from the United States and Canada working together to build a robotic rover capable of hunting for water, mining and excavating dirt, processing the dirt in a chemical plant and analyzing what it’s made of. If it contains water, the chemistry plant can separate it and measure it.

Within the US, we have team members from Florida, Texas, California and the Washington DC area.

This is inside our tent in the valley where we set up a mini-control room for early checkout.

The payload before integration onto the rover. You can see the drill and chemistry plant.

The rover in the valley before the payload is installed.

Alignment of the prospecting sensors.
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The fully integrated robotic rover working in the valley.

Wednesday started with an early breakfast followed by a safety briefing. Our next 2 days are all about setting up. Friday, we start operational scenarios. Today, we set the stage. So this meant unpacking computers and setting up a moderately sized computer control room.

Our testing with the rover is performed in a nearby valley. The valley is usually accessed with 4wd but for my first time going in, a few of us hiked in. It was a beautiful hike.

A view of my dorm building…

I’ve taken 10 pictures of this view and I can’t figure out how to capture it. It’s looking south and the mountain in the back right is Mauna Loa, the active volcano. Then there is a sea of clouds — we are above the clouds at 9200 feet (2.8 km).

Aloha. I am just settling down after a long day of travel to Hawaii. Tonight, I find myself on Mauna Kea, a very large volcano on “the big island” of Hawaii. My job brought me here where we’re field testing a robotic mining and materials analysis laboratory. The robotic miner is small and mobile with hope that one day, we land it on another planet. But for now, a volcano will have to suffice. Here’s a view of Mauna Kea from our plane:

We Stopped for some shopping and dinner before we took the 2-hr drive up the volcano. The landscape here is very interesting. Large expanses of rough ancient lava fields with grasses and colorful flowers slowly trying to turn it into something that looks alive. Saw several lava tubes before it got dark.

We’re staying at a Hostel/Dormitory owned by the University of Hawaii. There are many telescopes on top of Mauna Kea from around the world. The hostel has common rooms for socializing, watching TV and playing pool. There is a large dining area with some food available 24hrs. It’s very remote and quiet. I was told the view of the night sky would be impressive, but I had no idea. A few steps away from the light of the building, the sky reveals the most stars I have ever seen. It is incredible. The milky way is clearly visible with the naked eye. Very cool.