Since our last update, we have completed* the SS NaSA PoD and presented many wonderful outreach programs in Transylvania County and beyond. What follows is a recap of the events since our last update.
In August the PoD became a solar centerpiece in the PoD’s first solar/renewable energy/Electric Vehicle program while Jim and I shared our knowledge and practical experience using these technologies with a gathering of interested local individuals.
Below are a few photos of this wonderful event.
Thank you Saunders for these great photos of the event!
While Jim and I were presenting the program I arranged with Marian to drive up in the “Mighty” Bolt EV, park adjacent to the PoD in full view of the audience, then nonchalantly plug the EV into the PoD to charge its batteries on solar-generated electricity, and then take a seat in the audience. It was a really neat demonstration of renewable energy and EVs in action.
The next step in working toward completion of the PoD was to install the trim piece around the new air conditioner – it had to be custom-crafted to fit the space and it looks great – thanks, Jim!
Then the time came to have the damaged area on the “driver’s” side of the PoD repaired in preparation for the custom new ENP graphics/art. The scratch went deep into the fiberglass body of the PoD – but luckily, not all the way through. The damage was causing the gelcoat to flake off, so clearly the damage needed to be repaired before we could apply the custom graphics to the body of the RV.
This is the damaged area before repairs began.
This is how it appeared during the repair…
And now, the finished product…it is a huge improvement.
I would like to offer up a huge THANK YOU to the wonderful crew at Camping World of Asheville for doing such a great job and for giving us a wonderful 501c3/mobile education discount!
An interesting point of interest: the PoD was on-site at Camping World for several days while it was undergoing repairs. During this time the PoD was off-grid and running entirely on solar power so I decided to use this as an opportunity to test the PoD’s solar/battery power system, the new air conditioner, and its remote monitoring security system.
This is a reference photo of the PoD when I dropped it off at Camping World for repairs.
As a system test, I left the air conditioner thermostat set at 70F for the duration (but I could adjust the temperature as needed via the AC unit’s wifi connection).
To verify all systems were functioning nominally, I was able to check in with the PoD via its cellular-connected security system and Victron Energy systems portal at any time.
Next are a few photos I captured while the PoD was at Camping World for almost a week.
On the first night, I noticed a spider spinning a web from the edge of the solar array…I wonder what his story is?
The next day the PoD was moved to a distant parking area where it sat for a couple of days before its turn came for repairs.
Then the PoD was moved into the shop…
Where it met some other RVs in various states of repair. This custom RV belongs to Crossroads – a local mobile veterinary clinic – what a great idea that we can totally relate to – just so cool!!
While in the shop the PoD had its hub bearings serviced and body work started…
…it was moved outside during the bodywork to allow it to cure (and charge) in the sun.
This photo shows how small the PoD is when compared to its larger cousins.
The next photos are a few screen captures showing the Victron solar/battery system’s status from during its stay at Camping World.
The leftmost capture shows the solar (yellow) and battery use (blue) over 5 days of the PoD’s stay at CW.
The center capture shows the day the PoD was taken into the shop. We can clearly see this happened between 1 and 3 pm as evidenced by the drop to zero output from the solar array while it was inside. However, even without solar input during this time, the batteries kept the AC online and operational without any issues.
The rightmost capture shows a time when the AC was on and drawing 635 watts and the solar array was charging the batteries and powering the AC at almost twice that at 1200 watts – amazing!
Sunset between the RV’s
The PoD’s time at Camping World was time well spent as it gave us a great field test of its energy production/distribution, and life support systems as well as its remote monitoring/security system – and some much-needed repairs.
The PoD’s then came home and Marian stitched together its new curtains…
Arent they perfectly appropriate 🙂
I then decided to install a single, fold-down cot above the dinette area. I chose to do this in an attempt to make staying in the PoD more comfortable for us during multi-day festivals. The PoD’s double bed (above) is more like a wide single so it is a bit of a stretch for two 50-something humans to sleep on comfortably.
It was given to me by a friend and in its previous life had been as a very slightly used camp cot…
…I modified it by removing its legs and attaching it to the wall of the PoD. In this photo, you can see the new cot in its down position. Note the center support is made from a wooden dowel, a PVC plumbing fitting, and a chair skid.
The next photo shows how the cot appears in its stowed position.
Below the cot is the GoSun Chillest 12-volt refrigerator/freezer/dinette table.
Note: the wooden support leg is easily removable and stows behind the cooler when the cot is strapped in the stowed position using two corner velcro straps.
With the addition of a thick foam camping pad, the new cot is quite comfortable – but the couple of nights I spent sleeping on it to test it out makes sleeping in the PoD feel somewhat like a submarine.
We then completed the installation of the PoD’s microscope station and debuted it at the DuPont Forest Festival.
Take a look at a few images from this wonderful event.
This was our first event using the PoD’s Overland Vehicle Systems awning sidewalls and they worked perfectly to keep the bright sun off the microscope station and provide some nice shade/shelter when needed.
Between events, the time came to remove the old Casita decals and clean the PoD as well as possible before applying the custom new ENP decals. This is how the PoD looked before decal removal and cleaning.
During decal removal…
In this short video, Paulina shows how we removed the decals.
After the decals were removed and while we were waiting for the new ones to be printed, I installed a permanently-mounted weatherproof, Bluetooth-connected, sound system for use with general class programming and/or to provide background music.
This is the control unit mounted on the outside of the PoD.
This is one of the two coaxial waterproof speaker pods.
Then, we presented several more programs – one was at the Blue Ridge Electric Vehicle Club’s semi-annual National Drive Electric Week electric vehicle car show where the PoD and Mighty Bolt EV took center stage. The club used the PoD’s PA system to emcee the event. This is what our display looked like before the event opened to the public – the Mighty Bolt EV is plugged in and changing from the PoD’s 1,780-watt rooftop solar array – so cool!
What an outstanding teaching tool we have created – together!
Then, the next step was to have the PoD professionally detailed in order to get the ~25 years of grime off of its surfaces before we applied the permanent decals (note again the wonderful new curtains).
My crew and I then applied the decals
The PoD’s custom Hellbender artwork was donated by Peppermint Narwhal – please visit them today at:
Your support of Peppermint Narwhal helps wildlife species in need.
Wildlife awareness tangent: learn more about the misunderstood Hellbender by watching this beautiful short film by Freshwaters Illustrated – you will be very glad you did.
Oh, and the next time you are in Washington, DC please stop in at Hellbender Brewing Co. and have a Hellbender Ale.
Finally, we present to you the completed*
SS NaSA PoD
as it appears today.
THANK YOU Asher and family!
The next set of photos is from the multi-day
Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) in October where we were able to give the SS NaSA PoD a real-world test of its abilities.
We are super happy to report that the PoD performed admirably well at the LEAF festival. It gave us a wonderful base of operations to bring wildlife and environmental conservation, nature, and science programming to thousands of festival-goers and it provided a warm, safe, and supportive environment for our education animals and ENP chief naturalist Steve when they slept in the PoD over the three nights of the festival. Even though nighttime temperatures dropped into the mid 20’s the PoD’s micro-scale heating system (a small, ceramic element, forced-air heater) kept the pod and its inhabitants at temperatures in the mid-’60s.
During the day the PoD’s solar array was able to effortlessly keep the state of charge of the batteries up to system-supportive levels that kept all systems online and functioning for the entire festival.
We made many new and visited with several old friends 🙂
The microscope station works perfectly and is a huge hit!
Rachel loves Ashley the Boa constrictor 🙂
Below are three images of how the PoD appears in its fully deployed “Festival Mode” situation.
We also demonstrated solar cooking by cooking up some of Marian’s wonderful vegan meatloaf and later cinnamon buns for all our volunteer staff using our GoSun Fusion solar stove and solar table.
Our touch table full of bio-artefacts
It is a huge draw for all the curious young naturalists, outdoors persons, and future scientists.
Cade teaching the next generation all about snakes 🙂
Charlie the Red-footed tortoise absolutely loves strawberries
From high above our corner of the wonderful LEAF festival.
It was a grand learning experience for everyone.
THANK YOU ALL
Thank you to everyone who has supported us and those that are continuing to support us in the creation of this most unique environmental outreach education project – we are eternally grateful for your most generous support. You are all the greatest of heroes and your support is truly making an amazing difference!!!
This outreach education project will continue to inspire and educate all the curiosity seekers who discover it. But to do this right – we still need your support. The final steps in working toward the completion of the PoD are outlined below and will most likely occur in the following order:
-Installing the telescope – yes, I said telescope. The PoD will have a telescope available for special “sky party” night programs!! This telescope will use a special camera* to connect to the PoD’s flatscreen monitor to allow large groups of people to view all the awesome from the cosmos that surrounds our pale blue dot of a planet.
-Continued stocking of our field guide library.*
-Installing the composting toilet.*
-Installing the 120/240 Volt “shore power”/EVSE service. This is mostly complete but due to supply chain issues we are still waiting on previously-ordered parts to arrive that will make this happen.
-While the PoD is mostly complete and working exactly as we engineered it to do, and doing it very well – the one big issue we are having is with its tow vehicle, a 2013 Honda Pilot with high miles that struggles to pull the PoD up hills – and in our area, we are known for the hills that we call mountains. Needless to say, we are concerned about the remaining lifespan of the Honda and truly do hope it makes it a bit longer until the day we are somehow able to source an all-electric truck/SUV to be used as the PoD’s tow vehicle as well as the third (and last) outreach/utility vehicle for ENP. Please do contact us if you would like to assist us with the acquisition of a dedicated all-electric utility vehicle*.
*These are our remaining needs to fully complete the SS NaSA PoD project. If you are interested in assisting us with a donation of or toward these final items and/or the support needed for us to be able to complete this project – please do contact us or feel free to donate via the link below.
Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website.
This unique mobile outreach classroom will greatly benefit the nature, environmental, and wildlife conservation education, evidence-supported science, reality, common sense, and renewable energy awareness education for all our outreach program participants in the WNC region, as well as our wonderful students at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum who will also benefit from the unique wonders it contains.
As always we will be sure to share any and all updates in posts on this blog, in our end-of-year newsletter, and on our YouTube channel – so please consider subscribing to stay up to date on this wonderful project.
The SS NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP (501c3) and used as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom for ENP and our education partners Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum. They are fueled primarily with cleanly-generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and the SS NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They both serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students and ENP outreach program participants.
Please subscribe to this newsletter and our YouTube channel to receive future updates on our projects and programs.
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