Category: EVA Report

Crew 299 EVA 8 Report 5-19-2024

EVA #8

Author: Noah Mugan

Purpose of EVA: Explore Camel Ridge and Marble Ritual to gather information for drone map, gather samples, and introduce the journalist to EVA activities.

Start Time: 11:10 AM

End Time: 12:03 PM

Narrative: On today’s EVA, Pari, Avery, and Rishabh drove Spencer out to Camel Ridge to map out more areas for the drone map. We also hiked up a few hills and got samples. Then we got the all clear from Noah on comms to drive to Marble ritual as well. There we got some more footage and got two more samples.

Destination: Camel Ridge and Marble Ritual

Coordinates:

4251000 5187500 (Marble Ritual), 518500 4249500 (Camel Ridge)

EVA Participants: Pari (Commander and Journalist), Avery (XO and Astronomer), and Rishabh (Engineer)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Crew 299 EVA 10 Report 5-21-2024

EVA #10

Author: Noah Mugan

Purpose of EVA: Travel to Marble Ritual and Pooh’s corner to pick up duplicates of previous samples.

Start Time: 10:00 AM

End Time: 10:55 AM

Narrative: EVA crew drove to Marble Ritual, where they collected several of the greenish-grey rocks from the ground. From there, they travelled to the white mound to the right of the road, just north of Pooh’s corner. They collected further samples there and tested the geiger counter to determine the level of radiation from the earth.

Destination: Marble Ritual and Pooh’s Corner

Coordinates:

4251000 5187500 (Marble Ritual), 519000, 4251250 (Pooh’s Corner)

EVA Participants: Noah (Biologist), Avery (XO and Astronomer), and Aravind (Chemist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Crew 297 EVA 14 Report 24-4-2024

EVA #14

Author: Sarah Lamm

Purpose of EVA:To observe the orange region from orbit.

Start Time: 8:02 AM

End Time: 10:47 AM

Narrative: We arrived about 0.6 miles away from Somerville Overlook as Opportunity’s battery had dropped to 55%. From there we walked to Somerville Overlook to observe the orange region. It seems to have more silica present than previous locations. Seems to be chert that had been partially dyed orange. We also observed bedded layers of shale, silt, and what appeared to be chert. After we left Somerville Overlook, we went back to the intersection of Galileo Road and Watney Road to use the Case robot.

Destination: Somerville Overlook

Coordinates: 12S 521996 4253063

Participants:Pawel Sawicki (Commander) and Sarah Lamm (Geologist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map:Cow Dung Road, Galileo Road

Mode of travel: Opportunity

Crew 297 EVA 16 Report 25-4-2024

EVA #16

Author: Pawel Sawicki

Purpose of EVA: This EVA concludes the human-interaction study from CU Boulder, where two cremates will use the User Interface to monitor and interact with Case, as it traverses and records imagery of the points of interest (areas on the way and surrounding the destination).

Start Time: 8:50 AM

End Time: 11:21 AM

Narrative: Drs. Storch and Sawicki ventured out far north to the Gateway to Lith this morning to locate an area suitable for Case to drive around. Although they did not find anything in the vicinity of Gateway to Lith for this purpose, they admired the views of this area. On the way back, an adequate area was indeed discovered and utilized for the human-research interaction study. Case performed well in its given task, requiring minimal human intervention. The robot was then driven manually to test its steep hill-traversing abilities. The equipment was gathered up and the crew returned home to the Hab.

Destination: Gateway to Lith

Coordinates: 12S 518283 4255681

Participants: Pawel Sawicki (Commander) and Matthew Storch (XO)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Opportunity

Crew 297 EVA 17 Report 25-4-2024

EVA #17

Author: Dave Laude

Purpose of EVA: Examine the region for geological exploration and to examine Candor Chasma’s unique terrain and obstacles to NPS locating and recovery.

Start Time: 3:00 PM

End Time: 5:35 PM

Narrative: The EVA team road rover Opportunity to Somerville Overlook to acquire telephoto photos of the sedimentary rock layers in the walls of the escarpments. The view was stunning, like that of a nascent Grand Canyon, complete with the Canyon’s range of Earth tone colors. As the weather turned cloudier and windier the team headed back towards MDRS, but made a planned stop at Chandor Chasma for additional photos of stratigraphy and rocks. These were then uploaded to our Crew’s website for later analysis by Crew Geologist Sarah. Terrain was examined for NPS recovery and was found extremely difficult for such an operation.

Destination: Candor Chasma and Somerville Overlook

Coordinates:

4251150 520400 (West Entrance of Candor Chasma)

4253000 522000 (Somerville Overlook)

EVA Participants: Dave Laude (EVA Leader/Journalist/Engineer), Matt Lynch (Engineer)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, Galileo Road

Mode of travel: Driving Opportunity + Walking

Crew 297 EVA 18 Report 26-4-2024

EVA #18

Author: Sarah Lamm

Purpose of EVA: To observe the region that appears purple from orbit. This location has also been referred to as Purple Mountain. This will be the last EVA for geological purposes, as well as the last EVA for Crew 297.

Start Time: 11:06 AM

End Time: 12:50 PM

Narrative: Due to wind conditions, we drove Opportunity and Curiosity to North Ridge. We walked to the southwest part of North Ridge and began to hike up to the peak. On the way up we observed green shale, various colors of regolith, and tan sandstone. We were able to observe lots of sandstone that had fallen from the higher layers. On the way down we came through the saddle on the south side.

Destination: Northern Ridge

Coordinates: 12S 518483 4251766

Participants: Pawel Sawicki (Commander), Matt Storch (Executive Officer), Matt Lynch (Engineer), and Sarah Lamm (Geologist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Opportunity & Curiosity ; Walking

Crew 297 EVA Report 23-04-2024

EVA #15

Author: Matthew Lynch (Engineer)

Purpose of EVA: Perform an expedition EVA to new areas to bury the NPS on a later EVA. The areas to the west can only be explored via walking. We will also be recovering the unfound NPS from EVA #12.

Start time: 11:28 am

End time: 2:44 pm

Narrative: After a slightly delayed start we left the airlock and entered Curiosity. Driving North until we reached the expected NPS hiding spot we parked the rover and continued on foot. With the exact coordinates for the NPS we recovered it quickly, although it was hidden in an extremely challenging spot by the previous team. At 12:16 pm we returned to the Hab and began our on-foot journey to Skyline Rim. By 12:40 we had reached the top of the ridge line behind MDRS, and continued with our long march across the Amazonis Planitia. We reached the Skyline Rim and proceeded with our ground testing to determine the feasibility of burying the NPS in this region. With testing complete we headed back to the Hab, returning at 2:44 pm.

Destination: NPS Site #4A & Skyline Rim

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 517477N 4254656E

EVA Participants: Matt Lynch (Engineer), Matt Storch (XO)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Round

Mode of travel: Driving + Walking

Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): Curiosity

Crew 297 EVA Report 23-04-2024

EVA #12

Author: Matthew Lynch (Engineer)

Purpose of EVA: Perform the fourth and possible last ‘seeking’ EVA for the nuclear power project.

Start time: 8:34 am

End time: 11:10 pm

Narrative: After a slightly delayed start we entered the airlock and started on Cow Dung Road with the rovers, with no issues. Curiosity’s battery reached 55% ~150m from the edge of the search area, as expected. We continued on foot and began with our "fanned-out" search procedure until reaching the center of the circle. We continued until nearing the Northern tip of the search area. Then Dave and Matt S. went clockwise around the search area, while Matt L. moved counter-clockwise. Some of this terrain was very hilly and made movement quite slow. At ~10:20AM we had still not located the NPS and asked for a hint from HABCOM, however due to the high amount of interference it was challenging to make out the exact hint. We continued searching until nearing the end of our EVA time, when we left to return to the Hab so EVA #13 could begin on-time. To expedite the return and maximize search time, we used the extended range of Opportunity to do a short shuttle mission. The NPS was not found, but we have now been given its exact coordinates and an EVA to recover it is planned tomorrow. There is also a slight chance it was claimed by some of the local aliens.

Destination: NPS Site #4A

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 517477N 4254656E

Participants: Matthew Lynch (Engineer), Matthew Storch (XO), Dave Laude (Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110

Mode of travel: Rovers Opportunity & Curiosity, and walking.

Crew 297 EVA 13 Report 23-04-2024    

EVA # 13

Author: Pawel Sawicki

Purpose of EVA: We plan on continuing tests of Case’s abilities with a local EVA. A ground station will be set up inside of the ScienceDome, with Case maneuvering in the surrounding outside area. While one crew member monitors (and if needed, controls) Case from the inside of the ScienceDome, another (Pawel) will follow Case around to locally monitor and help troubleshoot any problems. The operator of the ground station in the ScienceDome will not be involved in the EVA.
Within the vicinity (and LOS) of the Case operation, Sarah will take gamma-ray spectral data of the areas around the Hab/ScienceDome.

Start Time: 11:35 AM

End Time: 1:45 PM

Narrative: Today’s EVA was the final set of trial runs needed to get Case’s confidence up before exploring an area outside of the shadows of the MDRS Station. Sarah and Pawel quickly set up the ground station with Sean initially monitoring and controlling Case from the cool comfort of the ScienceDome. After setup, Sarah explored the area and took gamma-ray spectrometer measurements. She noted that the uranium content here was more than areas further south from the Hab (around Robert’s rocks), but inline with what is expected. Meanwhile, Sean was able to deliver a secret message to Pawel using a hexadecimal circle and Case’s precise IMU, ala The Martian. Case was also able to maneuver around an obstacle course to gather imagery of a point of interest, but needed some manual input from Sean in the process.

Destination: Around the MDRS ScienceDome

Coordinates: 12S 518203E 4250930N

EVA Participants: Pawel Sawicki (Commander) and Sarah Lamm (Crew Geologist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: none, local EVA

Mode of travel: walking

Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): none

Crew 297 EVA 10 Report 21-4-2024
      
EVA # 10

Author: Pawel Sawicki

Purpose of EVA: The purpose of this EVA is to test Case’s abilities within the confinement of a local EVA. While one member monitors (and when needed, controls) Case from inside the RAM, another follows Case around to locally monitor and help troubleshoot any problems.

Start Time: 1:40 PM

End Time: 3:11 PM

Narrative: The crew of two opened up the back RAM airlock in their pressurized suits at 1:40 PM and quickly got started on getting Case’s equipment setup. A ground station was set up in the RAM with ancillary equipment (router and GPS station) just outside. In about 10 minutes of entering the Martian atmosphere, the robot was up and running around the area in front of the Hab. While Case’s paths to destinations were certainly mysterious at times, it was always able to reach the designated POI and avoid obstacles. Dave also took over manually to avoid obstacles, test Case’s range of operation, and perform the precise maneuver of bringing Case up the RAM’s ramps.

Destination: At the MDRS RAM and within close proximity.

Coordinates: 12S 518154E 4250918N

Participants: Pawel Sawicki (Commander) and David Laude (Crew Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: none

Mode of travel: walking