MSA Article

In July, the partially completed vehicle was put on display at the 7th Australian Mars Exploration Conference in Perth. Here a number of MSA members, NASA representatives and interested academics had a chance to examine and comment on the design, which was well received. An important topic of discussion was how to speed up construction, which is of course limited by a shortage of workers. This is problem is particularly acute in Western Australia at present because of an economic boom which is absorbing almost all available contractors and driving up prices.

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Over the summer months, the pace of work on the vehicle – slowed almost to a halt over the last three months – has picked up again. The main thing holding up construction was and still is lack of workers, paid or voluntary. The project manager, Graham Mann, has been trying to find new workers in both categories. Recently three new people have committed to work on the project, and it is hoped they can help move forward on the steel frame construction and engine refurbishment. A second holdup has been a lack of construction drawings which the fabricators can use in the factory.

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The project has moved forward slowly on two fronts: Bruce’s work on a robust steel frame which defines much of the shape of the forward cabin and Stan and Graham working on the body steelwork. Bruce has now completed the frame, which is ready to take its place as part of the forward cabin steelwork, which can now continue. He will now be able to use that work to settle any remaining issues on the exact cabin shape and side window structure. The structure itself should go down the factory this week.

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5 May, 2006. Efforts to accelerate the construction process have been made during March. Our strategy involves separating the construction work into several independent work packages, and have them carried out simultaneously at different sites. For example, the rover body can be separated from the vehicle chassis, so that the latter can be moved to another site for engine refurbishment work, while work continues on the body frame. A few jobs need to be finished before that can be done properly. In particular, the body mount structures needed to be completed.

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Much of the last two months has been spent on the task of obtaining competitive quotes for outsourcing some of the work remaining on the engine, bodywork and steel framing. This is not easy to manage, since it requires a lot of description and negotiation on work packets, prices and timing. There is a huge shortage of contractors in the Western Australia at present, and this is complicating the outsourcing task. However some progress has been made on the steelwork, and mechanical tasks surrounding the engine.

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A new home for the Starchaser rover has been built by Trinity College in East Perth. The new housing is a colourbond garage with large doors, designed especially for the vehicle. The vehicle will be moved there once steelwork construction has been completed. Work currently being undertaken includes the construction of the forward bumper and the forward control linkage. It is hoped that the excellent workshop and technical facilities at Trinity College will speed up construction.

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The floor frame and two of the vertical bulkhead frames are now complete, but the floor sandwich and radiator frame has yet to be completed.

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Further construction work is continuing, slowly. The engine mounting and steel framework is basically complete and work is now proceeding to propeller shafts, steering link and frame for the radiator. The gearshift and transfer box linkages are proving to be particularly challenging, since a set of two complex controls need to be brought forward over the cabin from the behind the engine. Mechanical engineer Andrew Cornejo has agreed to design these, based on conceptual sketches from Bruce Armstrong.

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Construction is proceeding smoothly, with a number of basic components being fitted, including the new forward and rear propeller shafts, the primary fuel tank and shock absorbers. With the steel framework of the floor (almost) complete, we are ready to begin assembling the floor ‘sandwich’, which consists of an aluminum sheet panel (underside), thermal insulation layer (glass fibre bats and hardwood standoffs) and a plastic and aluminum upper layer. Vertical bulkhead frames can be fabricated as soon as a new order of RHS steel arrives.

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It’s taken a long time to get further with the project, since both of the main workers have been tied up with other duties (read: paid work). However, at last the steelwork plans were completed and the floor frame and vertical bulkheads are being assembled. Now that this work is in hand, the task for we MSA volunteers is to get busy with the support equipment for the powerplant: exhaust system, coolant plumbing, electrical and transmission.

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