News from Wayne County University Rover Challenge 2023

by Adus F. Dorsey

WAYNE CO. - There was high drama on the high desert at the Mars Research Station outside of Hanksville, Utah this past week. Thirty-one University Rover teams from countries around the globe, and possibly the universe, gathered to test their engineering skills. After a two year COVID hiatus in 2020 and 2021, the Annual University Rover Challenge (URC) competition is once again finding its footing and is off and running in the Marslike landscape outside of Hanksville.

According to Andrew, the Utah State University (USU) University Rover Challenge competition coordinator, the "Rovers shall be required to autonomously traverse between markers in this staged mission across moderately difficult terrain."

Here, autonomous means without teleoperation—that is, without operators from the base station giving commands or user input. The rover must do all its decision-making on board. However, teleoperated scouting is allowed in the earlier stages. The markers in this task are various objects and approximate GPS coordinates given to teams. As the stages get more difficult, the GPS coordinates will become increasingly vague, and there will be more obstacles between the objects, requiring obstacle avoidance and autonomous route finding. In addition, teleoperated scouting is allowed in the earlier stages, but not in the later ones

The URC by the Mars Society is a robotics competition for university level students that challenge teams to design and build a rover that would be of use to early explorers on Mars. The competition is held annually at the Mars Desert Research Station, outside Hanksville, in Wayne County. The Hanksville site was originally selected by the Mars Society for what was considered to be its geographic similarity to Mars. In addition to being a largely barren desert area, the soil in the area has a chemical composition similar to Martian soil, ultimately meaning that the early pioneers in the Hanksville area could not grow anything edible or of value.

Specific scenario details change each year as teams master given tasks and to encourage flexibility in designs and improve the capabilities of the rovers. Rovers are required to perform teleoperated, or autonomous, tasks that would assist astronauts in the field. Teleoperated tasks are performed from control stations with no direct view of the rover, only what can be determined via video and data links from the rover or sensors deployed by the rover. It is assumed the operators are also on Mars so there is no time-delay in communications.

"The goal is to conduct in-situ analysis with the rover, including life detection testing of samples."

Teams must investigate multiple sites of biological interest, using instruments and methods of their choice, where they must conduct analysis of samples entirely on board the rover. The goal of the task is to determine the presence or absence of life, either extinct or extant, at designated sites.

After the 20–30 minutes of investigation time, teams

FYI Panguitch

Cont'd from A5 million out of work, no one would get their Social Security checks, the military wouldn’t have to be paid, and our credit would have gone badly.

On the other hand, the country is doing really well. There were 339,000 new jobs created last month, must also prepare a short presentation to give to the judges on-site, which presents their results, analysis, and conclusions. Analysis is expected to be relevant to the setting on Earth while demonstrating an understanding of how these observations would translate to a Martian setting. which was well above that which was expected. That is 13 million new jobs that have been created under the current president. All of the 20 million people that lost their jobs under the last president have also had them restored. The bad news is that the Feds will probably raise interest rates again, and that will again cause the inflation to rise. The stock market loved the president’s signing of the bill raising the debt ceiling, and it went up 701 points. It did make the gold and silver markets go down.

Rovers must pick up and deliver objects in the field, such as screwdrivers, hammers, toolboxes, rocks, etc. Rovers are required to traverse a wide variety of terrain—anything from soft sandy areas, to rock and boulder fields, to vertical drops. Teams are given approximate GPS coordinates for each pickup and delivery location, and potentially specific instructions for particular objects. Scoring is based on teams' ability to pick up and deliver objects to their correct locations.

Annually, the Mars Rover Challenge brings to Wayne County the best and brightest that educational institutions around the cosmos has to offer. Also, it is an opportunity for Wayne County to shine in the eyes of the world and beyond, not to mention the economic benefit the competition provides.

If you haven’t ever attended a University Rover Challenge competition, it happens every year in Hanksville, on Cow Dung Road, at the Mars Research Station on June 1st, or there abouts.

A sad point for me in our states politics was the resignation of our Congressman Stewart. I heard one little thing was that he wanted to spend more time with his wife; hopefully, all is well with her. ...I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.

—Abigail Adams Mack O.

Eyes to the Sky: You will want to attend this spectacular event as 24 hot air balloons launch from the North Sevier Middle School and Salina Elementary School in Salina, Utah.

Eyes to the Sky Cont'd from A1

Pilots will be joining us from many surrounding states, and they need your help for the morning launch and chase. Experience the thrill of volunteering to be a hot air balloon chase crew for the weekend. Find out more on our website.

Other free family activities will take place all day long on Main Street in Salina, Utah—freestyle motorcycle stunts, free concerts, cowboy poetry, music, and local talent and free swimming at Salina City Pool.

Famous food trucks, carnival rides, bounce houses, a rock climbing wall, mechanical bull rides, vendors, and craft fair items are available at reasonable prices. Win prizes at the chalk art contest, bingo, and newly added cornhole tournament on Friday night.

Be sure to catch our outstanding free concert series this year.

Friday, June 16th

• 5:30 p.m. - Country Forest Roads with Forest Turner

8:00 p.m. - Whitney Lusk Concert

Saturday 5:00 p.m - “Salt Lake Academy of Music

(SLAM) Rock and Pop Festival Band”

8:00 p.m - Carver Louis

Concert

• 8:45 p.m - Dusk Hot Air Balloon Glow on Main Street

*For an updated list of scheduled events, check out our website at https:// eyestotheskyballoonfestival.com/, check your local paper, or pick up a schedule at local businesses. Stay updated and share your photos and videos on our social media pages https://www.facebook.com/

EyesToTheSkyBalloonFestival/

Tag us at #salinasky #eyestotheskyballoonfestival #salinautah

*Please note, all balloon launches and FMX shows are dependent on calm weather for the safety of all.

To all our sponsors that have given and continue to give, we thank you. A big thank you goes to our festival committee members for your long hours of dedicated and continued service. We couldn’t have done this without you or the support from Sevier County, Salina City, Amerigas, and our inkind sponsors. Thank them for making this the event of the year.

Fly to your Dreams!

—Eyes to the Sky Balloon Festival

Legal Notices

Airport Master Plan Wayne Wonderland Airport

Wayne County staff and consultants will be facilitating a Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting and Public Open House meeting to discuss the Airport.

As part of the Wayne Wonderland Airport Master Plan Update, Wayne County and consultants will conduct up to four (4) Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) Meetings and two (2) Open Houses with members of the public and a select group of airport tenants, pilots, local & regional economic development interests, neighbors of the airport, and staff/representatives of the County to ensure a collaborative public involvement and master planning process that develops understanding, explores solutions, and provides a realistic and achievable implementation plan.

PAC Meeting #2 and the following Open House will be an interactive discussion between PAC members and the Planning Team to identify and verify the facility goals and requirements necessary to satisfy future demands on the Airport. The facility goals and requirements will serve as the building blocks for the development of preliminary alternative concepts capable of satisfying future demand. Several preliminary conceptual alternatives will be presented for public review and comment.

PAC #2 will be held on June 14, 2023 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The public Open House will follow the meeting from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. The meetings will be held at:

Wayne County Courthouse

18 S. Main Street

Loa, Utah 84747

About Jones & DeMille Engineering: Jones & DeMille Engineering is an award-winning, full-service firm shaping the quality of life since 1982. With ten office locations throughout the Intermountain Region, Jones & DeMille provides civil engineering, architectural, funding procurement, project leadership, GIS, survey, environmental, construction management, planning, materials testing and related professional services. Jones & DeMille Engineering is built on great people, excellent communication, technical expertise, and proven practices—all dedicated to shaping the quality of life. www. jonesanddemille.com

About Century West Engineering Corporation: Century West is an employee-owned engineering services consulting firm specializing in aviation and municipal projects. Century West has been providing engineering and planning services to clients throughout the Pacific Northwest since 1969. www.centurywest.com.

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on JUNE 8, 2023

Notice Of Budget Hearing Fremont River Conservation

DISTRICT

Public Notice is hereby given that the Fremont River Conservation District will hold a Public Budget Hearing to review the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024. This hearing will be held on Thursday, June 22, 2023 at 1:00pm at the Wayne County Courthouse Commission Room 18 South Main, Loa UT 84747.

Tacey Wood, Clerk

Published in The Wayne and Garfield County Insider on JUNE 8, 2023