Fieldwork preparation.
Published:
Bonjour, everyone! The countdown is on—just a few weeks to go until the summer 2022 drone campaign kicks off! After lots of scouting, airspace checks, and careful consideration, we’ve locked in three fieldwork locations. Two of them, the Obsidian Dome and South Deadman Dome, are near Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada. These volcanic domes were shaped by explosive phreatic eruptions and rhyolitic lava flows, leaving behind fields of boulders that are perfect for the BOULDERING project.
Why these spots? The boulder densities are incredibly high, mimicking the chaotic landscapes we see on rocky asteroids like Itokawa, Bennu, Ryugu, and Eros. It’s a fantastic opportunity to study boulder distribution and characteristics in a setting that’s geologically Earth-based but still relevant to extraterrestrial research.
For the first part of the campaign, from June 19th to 21st, I’ll be joined by Mathieu Lapotre and his Ph.D. student, Michael Hasson. Their help will be invaluable as we collect ground truth data to compare with the boulder morphometry generated by the drone’s automated detection system. It’s critical to validate that the morphometric parameters align with real-world measurements, so having extra hands and expertise in the field will make a big difference.
The third location is a bit further south, in the Sierra National Forest. This site features boulders formed as glacial erratics during the Pleistocene glaciation, with sizes ranging from tens of centimeters to several meters. It’s an excellent complement to the volcanic domes, as the boulder density here is much lower—closer to what we’d expect around small impact structures (100–200 meters across on the Moon) or further away from the rims of larger craters. I plan to head there in September, and guess who’s joining as my field assistants? My parents! It’ll be a fun way to involve them in my work, and we’re planning to sneak in a visit to Yosemite National Park while we’re at it.
On the tech side, everything is ready to go. The drone is updated with the latest drivers, all systems have been tested, and flight paths are pre-programmed. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for launch day. Can’t wait to get out there and start gathering data. Let’s get this campaign rolling!
Stay tuned for updates, and wish me good weather! 😊