Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada

Agenda
- Complete extended sun-synchronous navigation experiment

Summary and Progress
[See yesterday's report for the first portion of the extended
sun-synchronous experiment.]

- Navigated rough terrain. After communication was re-established from
the repeater station to Hyperion, it climbed a broad plateau
of broken rock. Speed again slowed as Hyperion, sometimes autonomously
and sometimes under safeguarded teleopera worked to catch up to its
intended schedule.

- Intervened manually. At one point during the traverse of extremely
rocky terrain, the front axle was forced beyond the software limited
maximum turn angle by turning while the rear wheel was surmounting a
35cm obstacle. This problem could be fixed via software but without
such a solution in place and tested, it was necessary for the front axle
to be manually rotated away from the limit position, thus this extended
experiment was not completely hands-off as the initial experiment had
been.

- Reattained scheduled plan. By the time Hyperion had completed the
traverse of the rubble field below Marine Peak it was running
approximately 3 hours behind the planned schedule (due to several hours
communication blackout and its slowed speed). Remote operators
improvised several stationary recharges to increase power reserves so
that Hyperion could race ahead in more benign terrain until it caught up
to schedule and achieved a more favorable orientation with respect to
the sun. After approximately six hours, Hyperion was back on track.
Also noted during this period was occasional dazzling of the stereo
vision system when Hyperion faced into the sun (currently 5.5 degrees
above sea level at its minimum.)

- Completed extended sun-synchronous navigation experiment. Hyperion
retraced the final portion of its initial experiment with little
difficulty and arrived at the end of the circuit on schedule with
charged batteries.

- Completed remaining systems experiments. Studies of power and
steering arc radii were completed and additional data for further
analysis of the stereo perception system was collected.

Upcoming
- Pack and flee

Weather
Early: Sunny, no clouds, 13.5C, winds 0-5kph, perfect
Late: Sunny, high clouds, 9C, winds 5-10kph.

Quote of the Day
"If it ain't broke, don't break it."