MMM they are getting along rather well, it might be time for some pictures?...
10 April, 2009, after a first day of roving and 56 elapsed kilometers, the Northwest Passage Expedition team hunkers down for the night at 67o44.120’N, 113o54.332’W, off a small island along the south shore of Coronation Gulf
On 11 April, 2009, team members take a lunch break at the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition’s first camp site at 67o44.120’N, 113o54.332’W, off a small island along the south shore of Coronation Gulf. Expedition technician Jesse Weaver (left), cameraman Mark Carroll (right), and expedition leader Pascal Lee enjoy a slow day while awaiting the return of field guides Joe Amarualik and John Schutt sent back to Kugluktuk to get more fuel for the onward journey.
On 12 April 2009, after 47 km of difficult progress through blowing snow, the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition team came to a halt at 67o46.483’N, 111o52.191’W in a complete whiteout. The team would have to wait 40 hours at this location, Campsite Three, before being able to move on.
On 12 April 2009, stranded in a blizzard at 67o46.483’N, 111o52.191’W, the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition team went into “hibernation” for 40 hours inside the Moon-1 Humvee Rover. The team stayed in periodic contact with Dr Stephen Braham at Simon Fraser University who served as “Capcom” and provided sea-ice remote sensing updates and weather forecasts.
In the evening of 14 April 2009, the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition team reaches its fourth campsite at 68o04.826’N, 109o51.654’W, just off the east coast of the highest island in the Jameson Islands in Coronation Gulf. The team traversed 91 km today, bringing the total distance traversed to 239 km.
In addition to pressure ridges (lines of jumbled sea-ice heaved upwards by enormous compressive forces due to tides and the refreezing of leads), the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition encountered vast fields of sharp blocky ice which had to be traversed with great caution. If an angled massive block of ice were to snag one of the Moon-1 Humvee Rover’s tracks in motion, substantial damage could be inflicted to the vehicle’s drive system.
In the afternoon of 15 April 2009, the Moon-1 Humvee Rover encountered a snow-covered lead (opening in the sea-ice exposing liquid water) at 68o15.573’N, 108o52.820’W which caused the vehicle to sink through slush and become immobilized. The Northwest Passage Drive Expedition team succeeded in rescuing the vehicle using the Moon-1’s powerful front winch, ice anchors, and the Humvee’s unique break throttle modulation (BTM) torque transfer capability. The Expedition continued that day and reached Campsite Five at the western tip of Kent Peninsula (68o36.820’N, 108o19.409’W) in the evening, achieving a distance traversed that day of 97 km and a total distance traversed from Kugluktuk of 336 km.
The Northwest Passage Drive Expedition’s Moon-1 Humvee Rover makes landfall in Cambridge Bay on 17 April 2009 after a record-breaking 8-day, 494 km journey on sea-ice, the longest sea-ice traverse ever conducted in a road vehicle. Expedition teams members were warmly greeted by the Cambridge Bay community and by the hamlet’s mayor, Michelle Gillis, who met with the team at the “beach”.
On the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, the Moon-1 Humvee Rover serves as a concept vehicle for future pressurized rovers to be used by humans on the Moon and Mars, while the Bombardier snowmobiles serve as potential analogs for supporting scout and logistics vehicles. While polar sea-ice is different in many ways from the surface of the Moon or Mars, the analogy lies in areas of basic operational planning and implementation.
(all Photos: Mars Institute/Haughton-Mars Project/P. Lee)
