Sol: 5
Summary Title: EVAs #5 and #6
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:
Crew 269 experienced another day of beautiful weather on Mars with mostly mild temperatures, sunny skies, and light high-altitude clouds. Winds were moderate most of the day, with higher gusts, with a brief drizzle in the late morning. The crew enjoyed a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, homemade sourdough bread, and espresso. After a morning planning meeting, HSO collected crew health stats. XO and Engineer conducted a short morning EVA (#5) to retrieve the mirror samples to analyze in the Science Dome under a microscope. Technology Officer employed help from the two licensed private/drone pilots on the crew (CDR, HSO) to complete drone flight planning preparations for the afternoon EVA. After a light lunch, CDR, Technology Officer, and HSO embarked on EVA #6, while the Green Hab Officer led IVA Comms. The EVA plan included drone operations with flight plans near the Hab, near the mirror sample deployment location, and at Marble Ritual. The crew successfully completed activation and checkout of the drone near the Hab but decided to call off Flight Plan #1 due to high wind gusts. The crew proceeded to perform their backup EVA plan operations demonstrating the VR/AR headset in the area around the Hab and at the intersection of Hab Rd and Cow Dung Rd. At the mirror deployment location and Marble Ritual, the crew again called off the drone Flight Plans #2 and #3 due to high wind gusts and performed further demonstration of the VR/AR headset in those areas. The crew then returned early to the Hab area; by that time the winds had died down slightly allowing for the crew to proceed with Flight Plan #1 around the Hab after requesting permission from Tier 1 support to modify the original EVA plan. The drone flight was successful, collecting imagery of the Hab area. Finally, the EVA crew retrieved the mirror samples from the airlock and redeployed them at the location across Cow Dung Rd. from Marble Ritual before returning to the Hab. During the EVA, Engineer analyzed the mirror samples under the Aerospace microscope in the Science Dome. In the afternoon, Green Hab Officer harvested carrot sprouts and the crew continued their montage painting. The crew ended the day with a pizza party.