SINE

Try to bear with me. I am reading a very interesting project:

NASA HQ News release 96-223 November 1, 1996 Students to remotely control Russian Mars Rover in Desert Tests

Scientists consider the [Tuba City] site to be an excellent analog for Martian terrain. The fact that the site is located on a Navajo Indian reservation makes it even more special to the science team, according to project leader Dr. Carol Stoker, a planetary scientist from NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA.

"Beyond the fact that it's a good Mars analog, a big motivator for us in choosing this site was to give a community that is not extensively involved in space exploration a first-hand, up close and personal kind of experience with NASA scientists in the field," Stoker said.

You'd think that going out into the middle of a desert, people there would not necessarily be interested in space exploration," Stoker added. "However, what I found is that there is a tremendous amount of excitement about space travel. It was just like I'd walked into the next building back at [NASA’s Ames Research Center] and was talking to a bunch of rocket scientists.

"Space travel is kind of a religious, mythical experience for the Navajo people," said Emmit Kerley, community services coordinator for the Tuba City Chapter of the Navajo Nation. "In Navajo mythology, we believe that we came down from the stars and that it is our destiny to return to the stars."

During the field tests from Nov. 4-9, scientists will conduct a six-day Mars science mission simulation using the Marsokhod Russian-built robotic vehicle … equipped with American avionics, computers and science instruments.

The Marsokhod, or Mars rover, features six titanium wheels, a robotic arm to pick up rock and sediment samples and stereo video cameras mounted on a pan and tilt platform to transmit live images of the field test via satellite back to scientists at Ames. Scientists at Ames will control the Marsokhod using a Virtual Environment Vehicle Interface (VEVI) rover control software. Scientists will communicate with the rover using a portable satellite communication antenna at the test site.

"We're using virtual reality as a substitute for live video because of the time delay in radio communications between Mars and Earth," Stoker said. "A virtual reality model shows where you are in the terrain and gives you a sense of presence in that space you don't have because of the long time delay."

A group of young students will take a virtual trip to Mars this month when they remotely steer the Russian-built robotic rover through a barren Arizona desert from their classrooms.

The experiment is one of several NASA activities designed to develop the next generation of planetary rovers that will explore Mars early next century. The first Mars rover, aboard NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander mission, is due for launch on December 2.

Using their computers and the Internet, the students will control the rover as it navigates through a sparsely-vegetated area during a NASA field test to simulate future robotic exploration of the red planet. The test site is located near Flagstaff on a Navajo Indian reservation adjacent to U.S. Highway 160. Students in Tuba City schools will steer the robotic vehicle Nov. 1 and again on Nov.

Russian engineers from the Lavochkin Association in Moscow and several Navajo students will participate in this month's desert field test by working with the NASA scientists in the remote "mission control station" located at Ames. The technology being tested may be used in a proposed joint Russian-American mission called "Mars Together," tentatively scheduled for launch by the Russians in the year 2001.

Well, the last part did not happen, but isn’t that interesting.

AURA

I feel like I’m on Mars now.

SINE

I know.

AURA

But I’d rather be at Phantom Ranch.

SINE

I know.

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