Crew 188 EVA #11 Summary Report 6FEB2018
Author’s name: Tatsunari Tomiyama AHFP, Health & Safety Officer Purpose of EVA: Reconnaissance of “Moon” region near Brache Hwy 1572 for future 360 filming and micrometeorite samples in vicinity nears roads travelled.
Location of EVA: Copernicus Highway 1574 waypoints and Skyline Ridge as time permits.
UDM27 Coordinates: 12 S 515404E, 4253907N
Number of EVA Crew: 3
Participants: Ryan Kobrick Tatsunari Tomiyama, Renee Garifi
EVA Commander: Ryan Kobrick
Rovers used: ATV 1, 2, 3
Duration: 2hours 23minutes
EVA Departure Time: 14:03
EVA Return Time: 16:26
Summary:
The objective of this EVA was to create EVA way-points for a future mission. We started to prepare EVA #11 before the EVA #10 group arrived back to the base to maximize EVA activity time because we expected that the destination point could be far away than our planning expectation. We used 3 ATVs for this reconnaissance mission. Brahe Highway was relatively easy to navigate using GPS but has many large bumps and pits in the road and required us to go slowly during this part of the route. However, once people have experience, this issue could be negligible. Overall, the objective was successfully completed in this EVA activity although our Garmin GPS unit battery was running low due to use on both EVA #10 and EVA #11.
Following our micrometeorite sample collections on a flat hilltop, we took Brahe Highway to the right on the Copernicus Highway and headed to east. We passed “Yellow Moon” indicated on the MDRS provided map. At that point, we returned back the Copernicus highway toward west. We could drive nearby Toothy Ridge on the Copernicus Highway and we decided to return to the base because of the time restriction.
On the way back to the base, we passed a grey unmarked electric rover parked about 4 minutes north of the Hab on Cow Dung Road. The vehicle was the same color and the same type which we use for MDRS. There was no person around the vehicle and no name was labeled on the vehicle. We took a photo in case mission support would like to see the vehicle. It may be the personal rover of Dr. Rupert but we would like to confirm.