It's a new year! Holidays are over and life is finding weekends to fill. I have to admit, I've been taking some time off from rover things. I think the winter season has left me uninspired and not really motivated to make drastic changes on Inspiration. It seems like every year I come up with a better way to power the rover or a better way to have the steering and suspension work. This year is no different and I just haven't been motivated enough to start the large amount of work that I want to accomplish.
I did some tests before the sun went away for the winter and found that 1 battery just isn't going to work. Problem is you can either drive during the day or charge during the day. You can't do both. Even just sitting idle uses up all of the power from the solar panel. The rover would have to sleep during the day in order to charge itself. I think having 1 battery charging while the other is used for driving will be the best option. It'll be heavy but so far it's the course of action that is needed if the rover is to be useful to myself during the eventual rocket flight that it was made for or the possible scientists at the Mars Desert Research Station this summer.
It seems the more I try to eliminate wires inside the rover, the more I inevitably put in. Things are getting pretty tight inside the body so there is a chance I may design a bigger one. With this change, I might as well design the camera to mount in the front with a good pan/tilt system on it so a person can actually see the rocks that they are sampling without the whole body getting in the way. I originally designed the camera in the rear so I would get some idea as to how far away something is. Unfortunately when approaching rocks, you can't see them until you notice the sudden jerk of hitting it.
With all of the weight of the camera and metal detector arm up front, I figure I'll have to design in some battery compartments in the rear of the new body to counteract the weight up front. At this point, the rover won't look anything like what I originally started with so should I continue to call it Inspiration? At what point is it a new project?
As you can see, there's a lot to think about and it kind of becomes overwhelming. I'm also trying to spend the winter remodeling the shop before the summer months ultimately compel me to work on the yard and make sure that the house will stand another winter.
Too much to do! Cristin and I would love some help with this whole rover thing. If you have any skills in coding, designing, electrical, arduino, or GUI's and would like to help, just let us know. I started this year thinking it might be possible to assemble kind of a dream team to get this rover officially done this year. I really hope that happens. Unfortunately I can't pay anyone so this team will have to be made up of people who have just as much passion for Mars rovers as I do. I like to think there might be a little magazine article written about us one day. You never know. This rover project has gotten me some pretty awesome experiences so far. I would love to share it with others if I can. Doesn't matter where you are in the world. This project can be added to by anyone. Most of the work that's left now is proper coding, GUI, and some 3D printing. If you think you can help, just let me know. I'd love to hear from you!
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