GOLDEN, Colo. -- It's a humdinger of a Humvee -- one that is fully equipped with Mars in mind.
A modified High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle -- or Humvee for short -- has been added to the technological tool kit at the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), stationed on Devon Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian high Arctic.
Tagged the "MARS-1", the Humvee rover is a powerful addition to scientific studies on Devon. The vehicle serves as a long-distance roving field lab. It also doubles as a test bed for studying the design and operation of future large pressurized rovers for the human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
The MARS-1 Humvee rover was driven and escorted by a four-person team, reaching Devon Island on May 11 after crossing the frozen Arctic Sea. They wheeled across Wellington Channel, a 23-mile (37-kilometer) expanse of perilous sea ice that separates Cornwallis Island from Devon Island.
MARS-1 is an element of the Mars Institute's participation in the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) Science and Exploration programs. The SETI Institute, based in Mountain View, California, provides overall management of the HMP.
The arrival of the rover on Devon Island represents an important milestone in the research effort underway at the HMP, said Pascal Lee, Project Lead for the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) and Chairman of the Mars Institute. The HMP has been underway in the Arctic since 1997.
Lee discussed the rover's role at HMP during the Workshop on Analog Sites and Facilities for the Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars. The meeting was held here May 21-23 at the Colorado School of Mines.
"Off-world" driving
For Mars explorers, a pressurized rover will likely be needed to reach faraway research targets from an encampment. That type vehicle would carry an expeditionary crew for days to weeks at a time. This slow-roving field exploration shelter and laboratory on wheels would support far-field science investigations.
The modified Humvee simulates a Mars pressurized rover, giving the Devon Island investigators "off world" practice in carrying out extended traverses. Furthermore, getting to where the scientific action is means mobility.
"What is interesting in geology is never readily available," Lee said.
On the NASA HMP, Lee said, field scientists do not simulate science tasks under simulated risk. Rather, scientists working at the site are engaged day-to-day in the actual process of trying to understand a field site while facing real life-threatening dangers in the relatively extreme environment of the high Arctic polar desert, he added.
Lee said the HMP could become one of several nodes forming a global network of analog sites and facilities for the advancement of space science and exploration.
Making tracks
The refurbished four-wheel-drive all-terrain rover rolled out of AM General's plant in Mishiwaka, Indiana, in May of last year, complete with the one-of-a-kind MARS-1 serial number.
MARS-1 sports a tall rear cab affording compact work and living space (including two sidewall-mounted sleeping bunks) for crews of up to four researchers engaged in lengthy field traverses.
The vehicle configuration is based on a military ambulance Humvee. To increase traction and tread lightly, the MARS-1 is equipped with wide tracks manufactured by Mattracks, Inc. The MARS-1 reached Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, the starting point of the expedition, on a C-130 transport plane of the United States Marine Corps.
To get to Devon Island, MARS-1 was maneuvered in shifts by operators that had received formal training in driving and maintaining military Humvees at the AM General plant prior to this Arctic trek.
To increase chances of survival in the event of a bailout, the MARS-1 was operated with each driver wearing a full-body Mustang floatation suit and the driver side door off.
This year, the NASA Haughton-Mars Project field campaign is anticipated to run from July 1, 2003 to August 5, 2003.
Researchers using the rover will go about their fieldwork in geology and microbiology as different sites on Devon Island are encountered. They will then remotely share their findings and experiences with collaborators, peers, students, and the public at large via satellite link.
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