This morning, the PSU team finished rewiring the rover with properly sized fuses and a fan near the motor driver that controls the drive motors. The rover was then taken out for another test run before lunch. After several minutes of operation, none of the fuses were blown, though some of the heat sinks on the motor driver were noticeably warm. The heat sinks near the fan were still quite cool, so in the future more fans will probably be added.

After lunch, some speed and mobility tests were conducted. To find the rover's maximum speed on level ground, one crew member operated the rover while another followed it closely with the GPS device and a stopwatch. When the GPS device showed that it had traveled 0.1 mi, the time was noted. This information was used to calculate the rover speed: 2.0 mph forward and 2.2 mph backward. These speeds are slower than a normal walking speed, but since a space suit slows people down, the rover could probably keep up with an astronaut.

To determine the maximum incline the rover can handle, it was driven up a small hill that got steeper as the rover got higher. At the point where the rover could not drive any further, the slope was measured with a level and a ruler. Driving forward, the maximum slope was about 10 degrees, and backward the maximum slope was about 12 degrees. The point at which the rover stopped driving in this case was the point at which the wheels began to slip on the ground. This may change in different types of soil. However, it was not tested on any other soil. It is likely that any other loose soil will yield similar results, though hard packed soil might give the rover better traction to climb steeper hills.

During normal operation of the rover, crew members noticed that it was difficult to steer due to some play in the steering system. When driving the rover over bumps, the wheels adjusted themselves slightly to match the terrain, but in the process they changed the direction. It is possible that this helped the rover keep its wheels on the ground for better traction, but it also makes control much more difficult.

Tomorrow's plan is to test the rover at a more remote site away from the Hab, with the goal of finding potential sites for the upcoming University Rover Competition.