The Cave ROVer Project Update: Look who gets to spend 40hrs refabricating the Benthic Sediment Sampler. I can report that the sampler is Extremely Rugged. Out of the desire to push it to the limits to test for a failure point. I bashed them together hard as I could swing, no problem, slammed them to concrete on all sides, no problem, shop oven baked them to find the warp point (apparently 180F at 15 minutes), then hammered the mount arms until I finally got a crack. Ok somewhat frustrating to have to remanufacture admittedly, but in anticipation of utilizing for sediment & vegetation research, I needed to verify they would hold up and work well in standard in-field use. Once re-complete, will move to in-field testing, as R&D continues on additional research components.
