Crew 206 EVA Report 28-Feb-2019
EVA #4
Author: Norbert Pouzin
Purpose of EVA: The EVA has two purposes:
– the first one is scientific. It is to make sure that the deployment
of the LOAC and the weather station is fine. Since the snow has melted, we have to re-calibrate the tripod of the weather station. Also, the batteries of the LOAC have to be changed.
– the second purpose of the EVA is the exploration for the other half of the crew who didn’t perform it today. We will go to White Rock Canyon and explore this area. We will park the rovers on the road 1101, at the closest point from the White Rock Canyon, and then walk to the canyon. As the distance between the MDRS and White Rock Canyon is a little bit smaller than the one we did today going to The Moon, the batteries of the rover might not be a problem (34% battery left for Opportunity, 65% for Curiosity).
However, if it appears that the batteries aren’t strong enough to bring us there, we will explore Kissing Camel Ridge West, parking the rovers on Cow Dung Road 0110, near Robert’s Rock Garden. Like today, we prefer being four for this EVA, so that two of us can work on the tripod and the others on the LOAC and we can be two on
each rover, which is safer than being alone.
Start time: 9:00 am
End time: 11:26 am
Narrative: Today, we went pretty fast on our EVA preparation, so we left the hab at 0900, instead of 0915, as it was planned. After the usual checks (Water tank for Team Red, composed of Aurélien and Jeremy, and rovers states for Team Blue, composed of Cerise and me), we went to the localization of the LOAC and the weather station.
We arrived there at 0915. While Team Red changed the batteries of th LOAC, Team Blue measured the inclination of the weather station, as the melting snow might have moved the tripod. Indeed, the angle had moved a little, so we tried to fix it by turning the screw of the tripod. We left the area of the LOAC at 0931, heading into White Rock Canyon with our rovers, taking care of the batteries, like yesterday. It worked pretty well, since we parked at 0952 on the road near the Canyon, with 90% batteries for Curiosity, and 85% for Opportunity!
We started the exploration, following our scout Jeremy. We went inside the canyon, and then hiked to go above it.
The soil wasn’t as muddy as it was yesterday, so we could easily walk. At 1058 our walk was over, and we came back with our rovers. We arrived at the station at 1120, with more than 60% of batteries on both rovers.
Destination: LOAC and Weather Station location, Road 1101, White Rock Canyon
Coordinates: 518500/425700 (LOAC and Weather Station), 520250/4247600 (White Rock Canyon)
EVA Participants: Norbert Pouzin (GHO, EVA leader), Aurélien Mure (XO), Jeremy Auclair (CMD), Cerise Cuny (HSO).
Roads and routes per MDRS Map: Entrance Road, Cow Dung Road
Mode of travel: Driving and Walking