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Due to financial constraints, the field tests need to be conducted within driving distance of JPL. It is very difficult to get permission to use National Park Service land, including Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. Fortunately, other Mars-like areas of interest are located to the south of the Mojave National Preserve boundaries. The Pisgah Volcanic Field, shown in the figure, is one such site. It is part of the 29 Palms Marine Corps Base Desert Warfare Center. Lavic Lake Playa is on the southern and eastern sides of this volcanic field. The playa has flat, mud-cracked areas (light colored areas); regions strewn with basalt rocks and flows (dark colored areas), and numerous craters and ejecta generated by the Marine Corps' bombing runs. Given the variety of materials and the presence of primary igneous rock and lacustrine deposits, as well as the presence of craters and ejecta deposits, Pisgah Volcanic Field provides a unique area for testing Mars rovers in Mars-like surroundings.
During the
December 1996 field experiment,
an area on the northern side of Lavic
Lake was used for the rover's traverse tests. For the
May 1997 field experiment, Rocky
7 traversed a 1 km route across the southern portion of Lavic
Lake. A computer simulated fly-over of the Lavic Lake area is available. For the March 1998 field experiment the rover will traverse up to 5 km along the ancient shoreline of Silver Lake.
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