The time has come and we could test the final rover that will be sent to Antarctica in less than one month on real snow and under similar conditions like on the upcoming mission. For this purpose, we made a beautiful excursion to the Tsanfleuron Glacier (the well-known Glacier 3000), taking along the actual transport box containing the base station and of course the rover. The experimental results were extremely insightful and we therefore plan to return to the glacier to perform more tests.

One of the most important points was to see how the wheels behaved on snow and to find the maximum steepness it can overcome with its by now almost 5 kg of weight. We found the current wheels to be too slippery, which is why we will print new ones that should have more grip.

We will post more photos of this and upcoming expeditions soon on our Facebook page. Until mid-September, when the rover will be sent to its final destination, we will be able do more tests in these conditions about 2-3 more times - thanks to the generous support from Glacier 3000!

Images by Jan Hug