24 JULY 1997, THE ATACAMA DESERT
(Llano de la Paciencia)

Nomad was driven for 6.238 kilometers today, of which 817 meters were driven autonomously. We cut off operations early to swap out the bearings on the right wheels; one of them had been patched earlier, but was discovered to have cracked. This type of fracture does not cause problems directly, but makes it more likely that other problems will arise in the future.

It was still a big day for our friends in Santiago. Today people from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile got to view Nomad's panospheric imagery in real time, *and* got to drive it during a press conference. Not only the technical staff, but also one of the reporters were able to drive Nomad through the Atacama desert. The demo and the press conference went well; Red Whittaker, principal investigator of this project, was on hand to answer questions and discuss the future of Nomad and of planetary robot testing in Chile.

NASA Ames also held a special event for the Friends of Nomad (West Coast) today. From 11am to 2pm (Pacific Time) NASA folks got to drive Nomad and show it off to some of the many individuals and companies who helped make this project a reality.

Today we did a quick re-test of the Rover TV technology. Tomorrow, folks in Pittsburgh will be treated to another opportunity to view Nomad's panospheric imagery on their TV sets, and to drive it by remote control; from their telephones. The test today went well, so if you find yourself in Pittsburgh look in on Pittsburgh Cable TV (PC-TV) from 1600-1700 hours (4pm-5pm in the afternoon).


Last Modified on: Sat Jul 19, 1997