EVA # 10
Author: Clare Fletcher
Purpose of EVA: Going to Kissing Camel Ridge West to attempt to reach Hab Ridge from Kissing Camel Ridge West, to identify concretions and possible fossils, as signs of life on Mars. We could not do this in the timeframe on EVA #7, so are going to make another attempt.
Start time: 1000
End time: 1238 (meant to return at 1230)
Narrative: We had two possible routes to get from Kissing Camel Ridge up to Hab Ridge – one on the South side and one on the North side. Mission support suggested we take the North route, and we thought it looked less steep, so decided that was the optimal route to take. We made it up on to Hab Ridge and managed to find a bed of Oyster Shell fossils! We also took bearings to various peaks from our location. According to previous research we should also have found petrified wood at this site, and after some searching of our noted GPS points and of the ground, we found some petrified wood too. We ventured further afield to take bearings from a different location to the peaks we have been looking at. As we began our return, Scott took a few more bearings and I found some odd-looking formations in the rocks of the Dakota Formation. This was our downfall – we were running out of time and needed to get back to the rovers. However, as we began our downclimb I noticed I’d left my notebook somewhere and went back to get it and my valuable field notes. Once found we re-started our downclimb but had some navigational issues with our path down as we took a different side of the gully to our way up. Once safely down we took a quick walk to the rovers and got home as quickly as we could, collecting a solar logger that was out of charge on the way back. We got into the airlock at 1233 (just after our EVA end time), and after our 5 minutes in the airlock, we were 8 minutes late back. This was a valuable learning experience for us in how to manage time and equipment in the field and we are aiming for no repeats of our lateness.
Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge West. Walking within 700m of the rover. Parking rover at 518271, 4249560, walking to 517664, 4249650.
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): Parking rover at 518271, 4249560, walking to 517664, 4249650.
Participants: Clare Fletcher, Scott Dorrington
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit Hab via main airlock. Drive down driveway to Cow Dung Rd 0110. Drive South on Cow Dung Rd 0110 to Kissing Camel Ridge. Walk up and along Kissing Camel Ridge to Hab Ridge.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking.