EVA Report – January 22nd

This is the report for today’s EVA

Purpose of EVA: Primary: Long-range EVA protocol testing, Sample collection for possible Halophile identification, identification of relevant sampling sites, heating vest testing.

Secondary: Outreach and Educational graphic material collection. Relevant sample collection.

Participants: Atila, Danton, Luis, and David.

Coordinates: 517100 E, 4256400 N

Narrative: Today was the first long range EVA undertaken by the crew, and it was an eventful one, fortunately with a very happy ending. It is important to say that the temperature was a challenging element for the crew. The EVA started at 12:00 with the egress of the crew of four of the airlock. By pairs they boarded the two rovers and departed north by Cow Dung road, however, by the rapid discharge of the opportunity rover, the crew returned to the hab to rest, eat something, and take two ATVs instead of Opportunity. The EVA was resumed at 13:30 with a new egress of the crew, this time boarding Deimos and the 1 and 2 350 ATVs. The crew departed north until the north of Copernicus Hw, where they left the vehicles and started walking at 14:50. The crew walked about 15 minutes to a valley(38° 27.448N 110° 48.031W) and stayed there for about 5 minutes, where they took the route back, taking relevant samples in the way, as well as aerial footage(38° 27.0021N 110°48.565W). There were a lot of hervibore prints as well. While on Brahe Hwy the battery meter of Deimos suddenly started dropping fast, taking about 5 minutes to go from 71% to 26% charge, as reported by the Engineering officer. The crew decided to switch positions to reduce the weight, and kept going, however the charge kept dropping. The crew decided to walk along the vehicle, and afterwards to push it. The crew followed this procedure for 50 minutes. Afterwards they took the jumping cables (for battery charging) and pulled the rover with one of the ATVs until they were in sight of the crew in the hab. Unfortunately, the cables broke, and it was impossible to pull the rover further. At that point the crew was already 45 minutes above the closing time of the EVA window, and director Shannon went out to help them. The crew broke simulation, towed and pushed the rover up to the habitat and made an ingress to the hab, out of sim.

They were greeted with hot cocoa and blankets by the rest of the crew, who were happy to see them again.

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