[meteorite-list] Lunar Crater Drone Crash Video - Team LunarRock

[Raremeteorites]

Dear List Members,

Our last trip proves that depending too much on technology is not always a 
good thing.   We lost our drone capabilities on the third day of the Team 
LunarRock expedition last September.  Two team members, "Action Jackson" and 
my stepson temporarily separated from the rest of the eight person, four 
vehicle group on our way to northern Nevada.  They managed to crash the 
navigation drone at Lunar Crater, Nevada before we had a chance to use it on 
the rest of the trip.  Action Jackson is an expert drone pilot having solved 
the "Giant Crystal" mystery at Christmas Tree Pass with it two days before 
and a night flight over Pahrump the previous evening in addition to hundreds 
of hours of logged flight time.  The range had been extended on this drone 
so that we could use it to scout ahead when navigating uncharted trails and 
to determine property boundaries so that we would not end up on somebody's 
else's land or worse yet, a mining claim where you are likely to be shot.

Image of drone pre-packed for the Team LunarRock September Nevada 
expedition.
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/Nevada2016Trip/DronePreFlight.jpg

An example of one of the flight plans over our Rye Patch, Nevada property 
near where "Curious Iron Stones" were being found by miners.  I will get 
into the surprising findings to what the "Curious Iron Stones" actually 
turned out to be later:
http://themeteoritesite.com/adam/Nevada2016Trip/DroneFlightPlan13.jpg

It doesn't matter how much you prepare for a trip.  Unexpected events always 
seem to crop up on them. Our backup drone was not ready for the trip so it 
was left behind.  It was never registered anyway.  You will note that the 
Jeep Cherokee in the video is the same one that I was offering a few weeks 
ago.  The Jeep Cherokee is like an old friend, always reliable, always 
getting us into tough areas and then out again making it difficult to part 
with.  This 2,200 plus mile journey was the last expedition that we had 
planned for it since we have more than enough updated 4X4s to handle future 
trips.  Speaking about updates, I had to turn off our navigation computers 
in the updated Jeep Rubicons since they became annoying, constantly warning 
us about dangerous trail conditions, rollovers and steep terrain. I do not 
need a computer telling when to disconnect the sway bars or engaging the 
lockers.  It became nerve-wracking having  the computer distracting me with 
verbal commands when paralleling a 300 foot cliff with inches to spare.  The 
computer would unexpectedly engage traction control, downhill and uphill 
assists making it even more problematic and unpredictable.  This made me 
appreciate the simple and very effective Quadra-Trac 4X4 system in the older 
Jeep Cherokee.

Here is the video of the drone taking spectacular footage of Lunar Crater 
before meeting its demise at the very end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C0QWSGn108

Although the crash doesn't appear to be much, dust got into one of the 
Chinese-made motors and seized it permanently.  Even though the flight 
capabilities were gone, we managed to use its 12 decimal point navigation 
system, which is far more accurate than our Garmin Rhino GPSs to find 
property monument markers, boundaries and other destinations by hanging it 
out the window while driving.  It is interesting to note that Moon dust also 
raised havoc with equipment during the Apollo and Luna missions.


Best Regards,

Adam Hupe
Tem LunarRock