10 days until start...

Today's blog brought to you by:
Darlene Lim
Geobiology, Limnology
NASA Ames

http://www.pavilionlake.com/information/contributors/lim.htm

T-minus 10 days and counting - on June 23 we'll be launching our Deepworker, one-person submersible science and exploration project of Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It's going to be an incredible journey for all involved.

Our science goal is to use the subs to extensively map and explore the microbialites of Pavilion Lake, and to sample microbialites from the deepest regions of the lake. To date, these goals have been difficult to accomplish as a result of the (~6km long, ~1km wide) and depth (65m) of the Lake. Even with the number of science divers we have on the project, this has been too large an area to properly survey - until now. The Deepwater submersibles put the scientist in the middle of the action, by allowing us to be both the pilot and the researcher. We are in command of the survey, and as such there is a more direct route between ourselves and our environment. We are expecting that this environmental immersion will provide great scientific depth and insightful observations to our survey.

In addition to the science, we will be using looking at our Deepworker activities as an analogue to human extra-vehicular activities (EVA) on the Moon and Mars. We've begun the involved process of designing EVA and science success metrics for use in Pavilion Lake, other analogue sites, and hopefully someday on the Moon. What's more is tat we are also looking at quantifying the efficiency of robots versus human explorers in hostile and uncharted territories, such as the basins of Pavilion Lake. This is not an easy task, as it begins with defining what efficiency is, and then designing a mechanism for quantitatively measuring this efficiency. This summer will be the start of what we hope will be many years of hard, but extremely fruitful work.

A group of 6 of us spent a week in Vancouver training on the Deepwater submersibles back in May: Bernard Laval (UBC), Greg Slater (McMaster University), Allyson Brady (McMaster University), Rebekah Shepherd (UC Davis), Michael Gernhardt (NASA JSC) and me (NASA ARC). Above is the picture of Allyson, Rebekeh and me being trained. It was an interesting week, with loads of time spent learning to pilot the subs, pick up items off of the sea floor, and find elusive sonar targets in the murky waters of the Burrard Inlet. We all had grins from ear to ear at the end of each day. It is such a gift, and a true privilege to love one's work.

Months of preparations, long-hours, and sleepless nights have gone into getting ready to put the submersibles in the lake in a few short days. Thanks to the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, Nuytco Research and McMaster University for funding our Deepwater endeavors.

I am so looking forward to embarking on the journey to come and to sharing it with all the amazing folks involved with this project.

---DSSL, June 12, 2008