Lupek Testbed

Craft Information - Slope Avoidance Failure

Lupek was a rover that will someday be deployed to Mun. It was the KSA's first rover and the team developing it has worked up some automated driving software that needed testing. This stripped-down version of the rover traveled over 150km from KSC to the west shore desert to stress-test the new software, with a crewed support vehicle that followed close by to monitor and upload code revisions.

After spending a day in the oppressive heat refactoring large amounts of Lupek's drive monitoring and slope avoidance code, the team set Lupek off on the drive back home to the KSC. This route home carried the rover over much steeper terrain, and it was not expected to even reach W4.

This proved correct when an extreme slope forced it to abort its ascent after speed dropped below 1m/s. Unfortunately either a code or mechanical error caused it to not properly apply brakes while backing down the slope, it picked up too much speed and tumbled to its destruction. The rover team is disappointed at the loss of the test craft but has gained valuable knowledge and experience to put towards the next version of Lupek.

Launched: 10/24/14 @ 16:44:00 UTC
Avg Velocity: N/A
Avg Altitude: N/A
Last Waypoint: W3
Next Waypoint: N/A
Estimated Arrival: N/A
Total Distance Traveled: 264.7km
Crew: None
Resources: None
Comms: None
Last Update: 10/26/14 @ 17:15 UTC
Mission Report
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