ARTEMIS 2015 - Robotic Exploration Beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf
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Stargates

11/5/2015

 
​By Peter Kimball
It seems the life-on-other-worlds motivation for our project has settled into the subconscious of McMurdo.  The word "stargate" has come up independently in multiple disparate contexts relating to our field work.  In a field safety meeting, we described the flagged access route from our camp up onto the ice shelf as a "stargate".  Now, completely independently, the USAP carpenters have installed a really nice new stair access to the bot house, and called it STARGATE - the Sea-Ice To Artemis Robot Garage Advanced Terrestrial Entry.  These stairs, their name, and their abundant labeling are all totally fantastic.

Meanwhile, the bot house drill hole took on a particularly "stargate" appearance last night as we lowered ARTEMIS (with its headlight on) out of the culvert and into the open ocean for the first time.  We used the ARTEMIS thrusters to maneuver around the area beneath the culvert (still in a vertical orientation), and confirmed the result of our ballasting efforts based on the scale readings from the night before.
Picture
Vickie watches ARTEMIS descending into the ocean through the culvert. (photo: Peter Kimball)
ARTEMIS Stargate Drill Hole Deployment
The ARTEMIS headlight gives the culvert and drill hole a "stargate" appearance. (photo: Peter Kimball)
Raymond Stevenson
11/6/2015 05:46:49 am

Great photos, really enjoyed them. Congrats on getting Artemis into the ocean for the first time! Looking forward in hearing further results after testing Artemis. Keep up the good work.


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    ARTEMIS is part of the SIMPLE project, supported by NASA ASTEP.

    About the Blog

    This is the personal blog of Peter Kimball and Evan Clark, following our deployment with the ARTEMIS long-range underwater robotic vehicle to explore beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

    Authors

    Peter Kimball
    Peter Kimball is an aerospace engineer and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.
    Evan Clark
    Evan Clark is a computer scientist and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.
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    Kristof Richmond is a mechanical engineer and field roboticist on the Stone Aerospace ARTEMIS project.

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