Category: EVA Report

Crew 226 EVA Report 24-01-2022

EVA # 6

Author: Felipe Torres, Crew Scientist

Purpose of EVA: On-site test of 3D imaging to build a structure from motion and obtain a 3D image of some objects in the zone. This EVA will mainly be guided by our crew engineer which has a project about 3D imaging.

Start time: 10:00 am

End time: 11:40 am

Narrative: We headed south through Cow Dung Road, where we found Kissing Camel Ridges. It was pretty straightforward to find the location as the two rocky ridges join and almost touch each other.

First thing we started doing was analyzing which object we would build a 3D image from. We chose an interesting rock; we proceeded to take photos of the rock to then join them using a structure from motion method.

Then we used one of the crew members as a model to build the 3D image. This was a little more complicated and results weren’t as good as photographing a static object.

Finally, we took photos of a small hill, going all around. We took around 50 photos and for the post processing we will join these photos to build a 3D image.

We finished our EVA purpose earlier than expected so at around 11:25 am we headed back to the Hab.

It is also to note that we saw some contamination in this area, as if it was previously used as a shooting range since we found some type of shotgun pellets and some aluminum cans.

Overall it was a good EVA. Rovers worked nominally, and we had no battery issues as we’ve been driving them appropriately.

Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge East

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 518500, 4249250

Participants: Cristian Acosta, Carlos Salazar, Felipe Torres

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MDRS entrance road, Cow Dung Road, by foot

Mode of travel: Rover (Spirit, Curiosity)

Felipe Torres,
Crew Scientist.

Crew 226 EVA Report 23-01-2022

EVA # 5

Author: Felipe Torres, Crew Scientist

Purpose of EVA: Recognition of the lithology of the zone.

Temperature and humidity measurements of a control volume using an insulating composite material. This material will work as a space blanket or space tent, which will protect humans as well as equipment so we’re interested in studying the insulative efficiency of this material under critical temperature conditions.

Start time: 11:00 am

End time: 1:50 pm

Narrative: Hab Ridge was a great location for our mission plan. We started walking from the Hab towards Route 1103, which took us West to the start of the rocky ridge. At this point the path got really rocky and we had to do some hiking to get past the rocks to the top of the ridge. We got to a plain area and at this point we stopped to take some Temperature and Humidity measurements for the insulative material we’re working with: first we took general measurements with the sensor inside a recipient without the material and then we took the measurements covering the recipient with our material. We recorded this data in a computer using Arduino. Finally, we walked South through Hab Ridge Road where the path was a little clearer. Here we found some invertebrate fossils, a lot of them, we were actually surprised how many small “devil’s toe nails” we found. These fossils are known as Gryphaea, or extinct bivalve mollusks. We did take a close look to these fossils but we chose not to collect any of them as it doesn’t correspond to our mission purpose.

While we kept walking south through Hab Ridge Road, we analyzed some rocks. Locally we observed some quartz-sandstones of course and medium grain size with some opaques. In one outcrop we observed the contact between a coarse-grained sandstone with a small grained sandstone that was alternated with mudstones. The latter depicted lenticular bedding which indicates a slack water environment where mud suspended in the water is deposited on top of small formations of sand once the water velocity is zero. All of the above gives us the insight that the sedimentary formation in the area was present in an environment with fluctuations in tidal currents.

By 1:15 pm we started heading back to the Hab; we hiked back down through the Hab Ridge and took some nice pictures of the landscape to finally arrive back at the Hab at 1:50 pm

This has been so far the most physically challenging EVA, as hiking with the weight of the suits, plus an extra back pack with a computer made it a little more difficult. Nevertheless, it has also been the most satisfying EVA due to the scientific data that we could extract from it and overall, it was a very nice and successful EVA.

Felipe Torres, Crew Scientist

Crew 226 EVA Report 22-01-2022

EVA # 4

Author: Felipe Torres, Crew Scientist

Purpose of EVA: Recognition of the lithology of the zone. We would recognize the area to identify the convenience of collecting geologic samples in this zone. Additionally, our crew geologist would train our other crew members so that they would also able to collect samples needed as followed by our mission plan; this in case she is not able to go out on an EVA for some reason so that she’s not the only one capable of fulfilling this activity but that any crew member could do so.

Start time: 9:10 am

End time: 10:25 am

Narrative: The crew prepared the necessary tools to collect our clay samples: hammer, shovels, zip-lock bags. Also, we brought out a small rodent we captured last night so we could free him outside during the EVA.

While we were getting the crew members into their spacesuits right before leaving the Hab, we realized that the ventilation for one of the suits was not working and decided to switch for another spacesuit while we resolved the issue for the other one. We tried charging it for a while which was unsuccessful and then tried changing the charger and finally it started working. This will be discussed further by the Crew Engineer in our Operations Report for today.

Due to the short distance from Hab to Phobos Peak, we decided the best mode of travel would be by foot. So, our commander, crew HSO and crew engineer went ahead to explore this zone in search of our clays of interest.

The location was pretty easy to find as it was even visible from the Hab. Different types of clays of different colors could be observed, and what seemed to be white clay from a reasonable distance, happened to be just snow. We collected our clays, for which we decided to collect two different samples, one was a red clay and the other one was a gray/white clay. These samples will be studied at a laboratory in Colombia, in an instrument that identifies the material’s mineralogy, to then compare these techniques with those of the instruments that Perseverance on Mars has on one of its robotic arms.

Our commander explained to the other crew members a little about clays, and why these were of interest for our Mission plan. Also she showed them examples of clays and which ones would be most interesting to collect.

Crew came back to Hab with no anomalies and before the stipulated time, as the scientific purpose was accomplished on time.

In general, this was a pretty successful EVA.

Destination: Phobos Peak

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 519300, 4250300

Participants: Yael Mendez, Carlos Salazar, Cristian Acosta

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

Mode of travel: by foot

EVA # 3

Author: Felipe Torres, Crew scientist

Purpose of EVA: Recognition of the lithology of the zone. We would recognize the area to identify the convenience of collecting geologic samples in this zone. Additionally, our crew geologist would train our other crew members so that they would also able to collect samples needed as followed by our mission plan; this in case she is not able to go out on an EVA for some reason so that she’s not the only one capable of fulfilling this activity but that any crew member could do so.

Start time: 9:30 am

End time: 11:00 am

Narrative: We got ready for our EVA by preparing the instruments we would use for collecting samples: hammer, shovel, zip-lock bags. The rovers we used were finally Spirit and Perseverance, following Atila’s recommendation after Curiosity’s battery performance wasn’t as expected.

We drove our vehicles from MDRS entrance road and turned left at Cow Dung Road heading north towards Brahe Hwy 1572. Cristian and Maria were leading the group riding Spirit rover, and Felipe was behind driving Percy. After driving for approximately 1 mile, Percy was showing a concerning decrease in its battery, reaching around 80% in this short distance, while Spirit was in around 96%. This became the main concern for the EVA as we started debating whether or not we were going to make it to our destination before 60% and we decided that at 62% we would stop and keep advancing by foot.

We arrived at the intersection between Cow Dung Road and Brahe Hwy 1572 with Spirit rover at 86% battery and with Percy at 63% battery. The original plan was to turn left at Brahe Hwy 1572 in our Rovers until the intersection between Route 1575 and 1574 and then explore the Moon Overlook area by foot. Plans had to change since we were limited by Percy’s battery; we decided to start walking, which we realized wasn’t a good option for the following reasons: it was a long distance to cover by foot and the EVA time wasn’t going to be enough to be back to the Hab at the stipulated time; there wasn’t a clear path so we were unsure about the direction we should be heading and this made us feel uncertain about our location. The reason there wasn’t a clear path was that a recent flood had erased the path and now it’s not as clear as it used to be, which we confirmed afterwards by noticing a group of rocks that were blocking the ”road” as a signal that the road wasn’t longer available.

As the main purpose of the EVA was collecting geological samples, it is to remark that we found some pieces of minerals that we believe were gypsum; we collected samples of these minerals as it was of interest for us even though our main interest was collecting clays. The reason we are interested in these clays is that normally these minerals collect water, which can be a determining factor in finding life on Mars. Current rover on Mars (Perseverance) has an instrument that allows to measure the transmittance of a certain mineral; following our mission plan, we would like to collect these clays to take them to a laboratory in Colombia with a similar instrument of that on Perseverance rover on Mars, and study different aspects of this technique.

At this point we had lost communication with the rest of the crew in our Hab and we decided to use our GPS to confirm our location and we concluded that we were right where we thought we were. We weren’t able to keep advancing by foot due to the road conditions and EVA time available, so we decided that Cristian and Paula would keep advancing in Spirit through Cow Dung Road to explore the different exits at Cow Dung to verify that we were in the right one, while Felipe stayed at the same location waiting for them as Percy had battery issues (63%). Cristian and Maria advanced around half a mile to Cow Dung at Gateway to Lith and came back for Felipe to return to the Hab together.

At this point we were discussing probable causes of Percy’s battery issue and we decided that Cristian would return to Hab by himself riding Percy, and Felipe and Maria would follow riding Spirit, this was to see if the issue was the way Percy was being driven.

We arrived back at Hab with Spirit at 68% and Percy at 50% and concluded that the best way to drive the rovers is slow, not overworking them by accelerating fully, even if we drive at M speed we should not press the accelerator fully but only partially, as it is not necessary to go fast anyways. This way we’ll be able to save batteries and we’ll be able to cover larger distances.

For the next EVA to this destination, the best option will be to only have two crew members driving Spirit, as it’s the one with the most reliable battery condition. Yet it is still to be determined if we will reconsider an EVA at this same location.

To conclude, we weren’t able to accomplish the scientific purpose of this EVA, as we couldn’t reach the desired destination and hence, the geologist couldn’t show the rest of the crew how to collect these clay samples and what clays exactly were of interest. Nevertheless, the EVA was useful to identify some flaws or issues that we may encounter when doing long EVA’s.

Destination: Moon Overlook

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 517631, 4254439

Participants: Cristian Acosta, Maria Bustos, Felipe Torres

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MDRS entrance road, Cow Dung Road, Brahe Hwy 1572

Mode of travel: Rover (Spirit, Perseverance)

Felipe Torres,
Crew Scientist.

Crew 226 EVA Reports 19-01-2022

EVA # 1

Author: Carlos Salazar

Purpose of EVA: Training EVA

Start time: 9:30 am
End time: 11:00am

Narrative: We used the rovers Spirit and Curiosity to get to Marble Ritual, which is a location near the hab, we went first in curiosity and Commander Yael went second, we went north in Cow Dung Road and we got to the location using our maps. We parked the rovers and regrouped, I got a problem with my earpiece after we managed to get it working, we made an exploration walk in Marble Ritual, we could see MDRS from here and took some photos, we looked at some rocks present in the area, after walking around a little hill we decided to get back to the rovers, made a turn and returned to the hab.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 518800, 4250700

Participants: Yael Méndez, Carlos Salazar

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

Mode of travel: Rovers Spirit and Curiosity and by foot.

EVA # 2

Author: Felipe Torres

Purpose of EVA: Training EVA

Start time: 2:00 pm
End time: 3:30 pm

Narrative: The purpose of this EVA was to train the Crew Members on going out on an EVA while on simulation. We used Spirit (Crew Scientist) and Curiosity (Green Hab Officer/Commander) rovers which were the same ones used during the first EVA earlier.

We drove from MDRS entrance road, then made a left at Cow Dung road towards NE until Marble Ritual zone. Here we explored the area by foot, getting adapted to walking and ducking with the suit on.

The soil was very eroded and we could observe slightly horizontal layers parallel to the ground level. There were also many small rocks of different colors, and we could identify canals or drainings in the soil where we believe water could have run by in the past; reasons for which we believe this area is called Marble ritual.

With this EVA we were able to realize that these activities require a considerable amount of physical effort and that each EVA only should be done if this effort will be compensated with scientific data that will support our Mission plan.

The spacesuits and rovers functioned nominally throughout the whole EVA.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 518800, 4250700

Participants: Yael Mendez, Maria Bustos, Felipe Torres

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

Mode of travel: Rover (Spirit, Curiosity)

Felipe Torres,
Crew Scientist.

EVA #12

Author: Robert T. Turner

Purpose of EVA: Geological and geographical re-surveying, filming for
the multimedia art project and documentary project

Start time: 12.45 PM

End time: 3.15 PM

Narrative: Successfully followed route to canyon and collected
inspiring imagery and some further samples of petrified wood and other
geological exemplars.

Destination: Candor Chasma, Area G

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 517500 by 4256500 UTM NAD27

Participants: Werner, Turner, Pokrywka

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MDRS Driveway to Cow Dung Rd.,
bearing North to Galileo Road 1104, past Compass Rock on Galileo Rd,
and parking at the second entrance to Candor Chasma

Mode of travel: Spirit and Curiosity. Then by foot.

Crew 238 EVA Report 12Jan2022

EVA #12

Author: Sionade Robinson

Purpose of EVA: To collect geologic, bacterial, and photographic samples.

Start time:1.30 pm
End time: 4.30 pm

Narrative: EVA crew visited Area D by Rovers Curiosity and Spirit. Successfully documenting photographically, the remarkable geographical features and collecting bacterial and radiation samples previously viewed to enhance findings and outputs

Destination: Area D

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): W4254400 by N516000

Participants: Turner, Pokrywka, Werner

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MoonWalk Road up to Cow Dung Road, north to Braher Highway 1572, then west to Braher Highway to 1575

Mode of travel: Curiosity and Opportunity

Crew 238 EVA Report 11Jan2022

EVA #11

Author: Robert T. Turner

Purpose of EVA: To collect geologic, bacterial and radiation samples.

Start time:12.20

End time: 15.00

Narrative: The MDRS Crew 238 Sol 9 extra-vehicular activity (EVA) went to the region designated "Baranca Butte," Site J, using the Highway 1101 with a stop planned at "Kissing Camels Ridge E," Site I, on the return to the Hab. The surface EVA participants were:
Executive Officer / Documentarian Pedro Marcellino, Engineer Simon
Werner, and Health / Safety Officer Robert T. Turner.

They utilized rovers Curiosity and Spirit to this transition to this geological site. EVA objectives were: geological sampling, survey and possible sampling of lichen lifeforms and a photographic survey.

This EVA team was designated EVA Team One. Travel to the previously mapped site was completed without incident taking twenty minutes. Once the two rovers were stationary at the main access road, exploration commenced on foot.

This region had an appearance quite Mars-like with orange-to-light brown strata. There were many small stones equally divided between those aforementioned colors and volcanic black rocks with indentions where bubbles of subsurface gas had left their mark on the cooling
rocks. Several possible water-eroded dry stream beds were noted. The smaller stones to pebble-sized rocks presented in an array of various colors from black, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and white.

Crew member Simon Werner sampled various rock samples and took a baseline measurement of the surface radiation. Rock and stone formations at this site suggested with their visual evidence that water must have flowed at this site in the past. There was minor evidence of lichen formations on the western rock facings but not in the frequency noted from previously explored sites on this mission.

As with other sites, the panoramic vistas to the horizon yielded more Mars-like quality. One Mars-like butte, "Barainca Butte," was also photographed with a height reaching an estimated two hundred to three hundred meters, perhaps more.

Crew member Pedro Marcellino had the opportunity to complete a wide array of photographic images of this site as well as crew members, Simon Werner and Robert T. Turner, who worked in their geological assessment of the varied surface samples.

Following completion of this two-hour site survey, all crew members returned to the twin rovers and a further stop was completed at the designated "Kissing Camels Ridge E," site for additional geophotography. After this was completed the EVA Team One made a successful return to the Hab facility without incident or injury.

This ended the planned EVA for MDRS Crew 238, Sol 9, EVA Team One.

Destination: Destination: Area I

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): N519000 and W4247000

Participants: Turner, Werner. Marcellino

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit on MDRS Driveway Cowdung Road, then south toward coordinates 520000N and 4247300W. Park and walk west to Baranca Butte. On return to complete a quick follow up stop at Kissing Camels located N518300N and W4249100 to recover further samples and more detailed photographic samples of geographic features.

Mode of travel: Curiosity and Opportunity.

Crew 238 EVA Report 11Jan2022

EVA #11

Author: Robert T. Turner

Purpose of EVA: To collect geologic, bacterial and radiation samples.

Start time:12.20

End time: 15.00

Narrative: The MDRS Crew 238 Sol 9 extra-vehicular activity (EVA) went to the region designated "Baranca Butte," Site J, using the Highway 1101 with a stop planned at "Kissing Camels Ridge E," Site I, on the return to the Hab. The surface EVA participants were:
Executive Officer / Documentarian Pedro Marcellino, Engineer Simon
Werner, and Health / Safety Officer Robert T. Turner.

They utilized rovers Curiosity and Spirit to this transition to this geological site. EVA objectives were: geological sampling, survey and possible sampling of lichen lifeforms and a photographic survey.

This EVA team was designated EVA Team One. Travel to the previously mapped site was completed without incident taking twenty minutes. Once the two rovers were stationary at the main access road, exploration commenced on foot.

This region had an appearance quite Mars-like with orange-to-light brown strata. There were many small stones equally divided between those aforementioned colors and volcanic black rocks with indentions where bubbles of subsurface gas had left their mark on the cooling
rocks. Several possible water-eroded dry stream beds were noted. The smaller stones to pebble-sized rocks presented in an array of various colors from black, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and white.

Crew member Simon Werner sampled various rock samples and took a baseline measurement of the surface radiation. Rock and stone formations at this site suggested with their visual evidence that water must have flowed at this site in the past. There was minor evidence of lichen formations on the western rock facings but not in the frequency noted from previously explored sites on this mission.

As with other sites, the panoramic vistas to the horizon yielded more Mars-like quality. One Mars-like butte, "Baranca Butte," was also photographed with a height reaching an estimated two hundred to three hundred meters, perhaps more.

Crew member Pedro Marcellino had the opportunity to complete a wide array of photographic images of this site as well as crew members, Simon Werner and Robert T. Turner, who worked in their geological assessment of the varied surface samples.

Following completion of this two-hour site survey, all crew members returned to the twin rovers and a further stop was completed at the designated "Kissing Camels Ridge E," site for additional geophotography. After this was completed the EVA Team One made a successful return to the Hab facility without incident or injury.

This ended the planned EVA for MDRS Crew 238, Sol 9, EVA Team One.

Destination: Destination: Area I

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): N519000 and W4247000

Participants: Turner, Werner. Marcellino

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit on MDRS Driveway Cowdung Road, then south toward coordinates 520000N and 4247300W. Park and walk west to Baranca Butte. On return to complete a quick follow up stop at Kissing Camels located N518300N and W4249100 to recover further samples and more detailed photographic samples of geographic features.

Mode of travel: Curiosity and Opportunity.

BD: this supercedes prior EVA #10 report

Crew 238 EVA Report 10Jan2022

EVA #10

Author: HSO Robert T. Turner

Purpose of EVA: To collect geologic, bacterial, and radiation samples.

Start time:12.20
End time: 14.40

Narrative: The MDRS Crew 238 Sol 8 extra-vehicular activity (EVA) went to the region designated Moon Overlook using the Brahe Highway 1575. The surface EVA participants were: Artist Agnieszka Pokrywka, Engineer Simon Werner, and Health / Safety Officer Robert T. Turner.

These utilitized rovers Curiosity and Opportunity to transition tothis geological site. EVA objectives were: geological sampling, survey, and possible radiation measurements; and, a second object was
obtaining stream bed samples for possible bacteriological culturing.

This EVA team was designated EVA Team One. Travel to the previously mapped site was completed without incident. Once the two rovers were stationary, exploration was initiated on foot.

This region possessed an appearance quite like luna with gray,finely-powdered soil, starkly contrasting with an absence of surface stones as had been noted in other EVA sites. This site featured an enormous crater-like structural depression overlaid with a second impact marking. Small stony ejecta was noted in the vicinity of the upper crater rim that was being explored. Several possible evacuation dry stream beds were noted.

Steep gray angular walls descended to smaller chasma-like structures. Samples initially thought to be shock quartz were first noted on this exploration with samples obtained for further study. Extensive surface photography was completed with a more Mars-like demarcation noted on the panoramic views of the vista horizon, including a presumed possible volcanic butte.

Crew member Agnieszka Pokrywka obtained stream bed soil samples for biological investigation. This site had fewer examples of lichen-like lifeforms as noted in the photographic sampling.

Crew members Agnieszka Pokrywka and Simon Werner conducted a walking descent of the crater rim wall into the depth of the crater-like structure, noted changes in the presentation of presumed multiple drainage ravines. Additional surface rock samples were obtained at the descent site, along with supplemental photography. Following completion of an ascent out of this area, all crew members returned to the twin rovers and completed a successful return to the Hab. This ended the planned EVA for MDRS Crew 238, Sol 8, EVA Team One.

We took a yellowish looking sample from one of the few, thin and more compact layers at the bottom of a crater-like structure, below Widow’s Peak. We are not sure yet, if this is of biologic origin or not. A first analysis of this sample will be done using the microscope in the Science Dome.

The radiation level at Widows Peak using a Geiger counter/dosimeter, "Radex one", Qarta-Rad Inc. Measurement was taken 10cm above ground level over 10 min. The values were refreshed every 15 sec. and have shown a range from 0.26 to 0.29 µS/h. This is roughly twice the level along Cow dung road from HAB towards the North (Measurements taken every 500m along Cow Dung road, ranging from 0.11 µS/h at Marble Ritual …to 0.19µS/h when crossing Tank Wash river bed.

Question: We are uncertain if the Moon, especially around Widows peak, is still the Morrison Formation or already the lower layer of the Cedar Mountains Formation (lower yellow cat)?

Destination: Area D

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): W4254400 by N516000

Participants: Turner, Pokrywka, Werner

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MoonWalk Road up to Cow Dung Road, north to Braher Highway 1572, then west to Braher Highway to 1575

Mode of travel: Curiosity and Opportunity