March 7, 2007
Robin Gary, Marcus Gary and John Kerr make it back across the border into Mexico without a hitch.
Today was the day to make the 12 hour drive from Austin back to Rancho la Azufrosa in Tamaulipas, Mexico. John Kerr, Robin Gary and Marcus Gary loaded up 2 trucks with food, computers, and a ton of other miscellaneous items (including over 1000 pounds of books and journals being donated to a Mexican University from The University of Texas at Austin Geology Library. We made it out of Austin by 8:30 AM, and had a rather uneventful drive down. Quite a difference from our initial trip in late January. The crossing at the border went without any problems, and it was green lights all the way! We had a nice dinner at Resturante Tampico in the town of Sota La Marina and arrived at Rancho la Azufrosa by 9:30 PM. A few hours were spent unpacking food and storing it in the deep freezer, then we headed to bed to get some sleep for the very busy day ahead.
Trucks being loaded in Austin Wednesday morning
Old friends join the team. Seasoned Zacatón travelers Wyle and Mona load up for the trip. Mona has been traveling to Rancho la Azufrosa since 1995, making over 40 trips to the site. Wyle joined the crew in 2002, and has made almost 20 ventures.
The advance DEPTHX team arrived at Rancho La Azufrosa last night after an eventful set of days crossing the border. It is difficult to explain all of the details from our plight, but let me just say that it deserves a write-up ofsome sort.
March 8, 2007
Site Setup
Our first full day back at Rancho la Azufrosa was a busy one. John, Robin, and Marcus had a long list of things to get done before the rest of the team showed up tonight. First on the list was to check the status of the bot and our shop. A strong windstorm, known locally as "El Norte" had blown through the previous weekend, leaving our shade canopy over the shop (a modified 40 foot shipping container) ripped to shreds. Not a major catastrophe, but a rather hot development. John Kerr emailed our geomicrobiologist, John Spear from the Colorado School of Mines to pick a replacement up in Denver and bring it on the plane. We will have shade again! Nonetheless, we opened up the shop and John checked the batteries. One of the battery banks had dropped to an uncomfortably low voltage over the past three weeks, but after an hour or so of pumping electrons into it, John breathed a sigh of relief as it became clear that it would work. On to the next item on the list.
The three photos above: A windstorm or "El Norte" had shredded our shade canopy (top), so we had to evaluate what to do next. Temperatures began to rise in the field lab....approaching 100 degrees (F)....Robin climbs on top to hose down the lab for some evaporative cooling (middle)....success! Temperatures dropped to a pleasant 81 degrees within 20 minutes (bottom).
Turning on the bot
John now booted up the system successfully, and we checked out the status of the science payload. Operation of this component is a primary focus for this week's tests, so a list was made for what needs to be repaired and/or modified. At the moment, all we needed to do was reinstall the payload into the bot.
Left: John Kerr makes some adjustments on the science payload of DEPTHX before reinstalling the hardware on the bot.
Setting up Mission Control - La Pilita
Robin and Marcus Gary now headed over to La Pilita to set up the DEPTHX mission control. This entails tying in to the electricity grid and installing a breaker panel to provide power, setting up 4 large tents, and getting all the other odds and ends set up. Marcus handled the electricity. It is always an adventure when dealing with Mexican high voltage....440 V-three phase....had to be careful. Robin went ahead with the tent set up. First was the bot battery charging tent, then the science/biology tent, then the navigations ops tent. Finally we set up a fourth tent that will serve as the geology tent. Everything looks good, so we headed back to the ranch field lab to see what John had been up to.
Marcus Gary ties into the electricity grid to supply power for La Pilita Mission Control. The bot battery charging tent can be seen set up near the water.
Final bot assembly and transport to La Pilita
Upon return to the field lab, we found John had already installed the science payload, closed up the batteries, removed the bot from the container using the telescoping forklift, and had employed the help of local ranch hands Nacho and Gilberto to assist with bolting on the syntactic foam. Wow, things must be going well! Marcus jumped out and took over operation of the forklift so John could help guide the foam onto the bot frame. After another 30 minutes, it was ready to head to La Pilita. John and Robin continued to pack up computers, tables, cables, battery chargers, etc. to set up at La Pilita and Marcus headed over with the bot hanging from the forklift.
John, Nacho, Gilberto, and Marcus bolt on the syntactic foam to the bot. This was the final step at the field lab in preparing DEPTHX for operations at La Pilita.
Final Set Up and Arrival of Other Team Members
By 6:00 P.M. we have the bot poised for deployment into La Pilita, all support tents set up and operational. It was a busy day, but we were now prepared for the rest of the team to arrive and hit the ground running on Friday morning. Always a good feeling when things go well and you reach your goals. By 7:30 the three of us headed back to the ranch house to begin cooking dinner and preparing the rooms for other team members. Around 10:45 three sets of headlights rose up from the ridge and everyone made it to Rancho la Azufrosa safely. Antonio Fregoso led the caravan from the airport in Tampico, picking up:
Dave WetterGreen (CMU)
George Kantor (CMU)
Dom Jonak (CMU)
Nathaniel Fairfield (CMU)
John Spear (CSM)
Jason Sahl (CSM)
Ernest Franke (SWRI)
Ian Meizen (SWRI)
Marc Airhart (UT-Austin)
We had a nice dinner and retired by 12:30.
The sun sets on La Pilita Mission Control with the DEPTHX bot ready for the next day's round of tests.
March 9, 2007
Back in the Water
John Kerr unhooks the bot from lifting slings as DEPTHX gets wet again in La Pilita. The first day back in the water saw positive success in the operations development of DEPTHX.
Morning Briefing
The team awoke at daybreak and assembled in the Rancho la Azufrosa Palapa (AKA Palapa Internet Cafe) to discuss the plan for the day. George Kantor wrote up the organization schedule for the goals, discussed what needed to get accomplished, and took questions. Most headed to La Pilita by 8:30 to get moving with the tests.
The DEPTHX team meets in the Palapa (left) to go over the daily plan (right), as shown by George Kantor.
Morning OPS
Update to come
The group breaks for lunch at La Pilita with the local menu favorite of tacos.
Afternoon OPS
Following lunch, the group began repairs and minor modifications of the science payload. A hydraulic leak was located and fixed, and a rebuilt sulfide sensor was installed on the bot. This work was led by Ernest Franke and Ian Meizen from Southwest Research Institute
