Pressurized Rovers
In May 2003, Lee led an Arctic winter expedition to drive the Mars Institute's Mars-1 Humvee Rover from Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, to Cape McBain on Devon Island across the Wellington Channel's 40 km of sea-ice. The Mars-1, bright red in color, is a modified M997 military ambulance Humvee manufactured by AM General of Mishawaka, IN. Accompanying Lee were American explorer John Schutt and Canadian Inuit field guides Paul Amagoalik and Joe Amarualik of Resolute Bay. The crossing was a success and the Mars-1 has since been serving on the Haughton-Mars Project as a mobile field lab and concept vehicle for future pressurized rovers to be used on the Moon or Mars. NASA's first simulated pressurized rover field traverse was conducted at the Haughton-Mars Project in July 2008 using the Mars-1. Lee commanded the mission while Andrew Abercromby of the NASA Johnson Space Center served as field lead of the rover traverse investigation.
In April 2009, Lee led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition to ferry a second Humvee, the bright yellow Moon-1 Humvee Rover, from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, to Devon Island, on sea-ice. Accompanying Lee were veterans John Schutt and Joe Amarualik, expedition technician Jesse Weaver, and cameraman Mark Carroll of Jules Verne Adventures. The team succeeded in driving 494 km in 8 days from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, along the fabled Northwest Passage, establishing a record for the longest distance driven on sea-ice in a road vehicle. Plans to drive on from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay were abandoned due to extremely rough sea-ice conditions. At one point along the drive from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, the Moon-1 partially fell through a lead (crack in the sea-ice), but was ultimately rescued by the expedition team. The Moon-1 was eventually flown from Cambridge Bay to Resolute Bay where it waited a year before completing its journey to Devon Island.
In May 2010, Lee led the second and final phase of the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition by driving the Moon-1 Humvee Rover from Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Island, to Domville Point, Devon Island. Accompanying Lee were veterans John Schutt, Joe Amarualik, Jesse Weaver, and Mark Carroll, and documentary director Jean-Christophe Jeauffre of Jules Verne Adventures. The 150 km journey, of which 60 km were on sea-ice, took 12 days. The Moon-1's arrival on Devon Island was hailed as in important success for the Haughton-Mars Project, as it opened the way for dual pressurized rover simulations using the two Humvee rovers working in tandem.
Lee also participated in field tests of NASA's Surface Exploration Vehicle (SEV), formerly known as the Lunar Exploration Rover (LER) or Small Pressurized Rover (SPR). In August 2008, Lee was pilot scientist of the first field test of the SEV, which was conducted under the auspices of the NASA Desert RATS project at the Black Point Lava Flow site in Northern Arizona. NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim was pilot commander of the 1-day mission. The SEV was developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center principally under the leadership of astronaut Michael Gernhardt and robotics engineer Robert Ambrose.
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