15th August 2040
Over the past few days David Martel and Jianyu Chu have been working on the heavy rover at Hab Alpha A4. The aim has been to reconfigure the rover so that its powerful winch mechanism can be used, while the rover itself can be relocated using the two light electric rovers. This has been a major engineering challenge given the shortage of tools and the lack of spare parts.
Part of the redesign involved separating the wheels from the drive mechanism. This proved a tricky task given the need to access the rover from beneath. In order to do this, a trench was dug so that Chu could reach the necessary parts.
This afternoon at around 1450 Alpha Time (AT) the astronauts used their rover to pull the heavy rover just a few meters along the ground. They will now return to Alpha 1 to prepare for the next stage of base construction.
Over the past few days David Martel and Jianyu Chu have been working on the heavy rover at Hab Alpha A4. The aim has been to reconfigure the rover so that its powerful winch mechanism can be used, while the rover itself can be relocated using the two light electric rovers. This has been a major engineering challenge given the shortage of tools and the lack of spare parts.
Part of the redesign involved separating the wheels from the drive mechanism. This proved a tricky task given the need to access the rover from beneath. In order to do this, a trench was dug so that Chu could reach the necessary parts.
This afternoon at around 1450 Alpha Time (AT) the astronauts used their rover to pull the heavy rover just a few meters along the ground. They will now return to Alpha 1 to prepare for the next stage of base construction.