EVA report – May 07th

Crew 212 EVA Report 06-MAY-2019

EVA #01

Author: Paolo Guardabasso

Purpose of EVA: First test of EVA equipment and procedures in Marble Ritual

Start time: 09:00 AM

End time: 09:55 AM

Narrative: This first EVA was intended as an introduction to external activities for part of the crew (another one followed in the late afternoon). After a 5 minutes depressurization in the main airlock, four members of the crew went outside the HAB and tested the suits (in terms of comfort and mobility) and the communication systems (communication between EVA members, with the HAB, comfort of communication devices and comm protocols). The custom handset for long-range communication that was planned to be tested during this EVA proved faulty, so the traditional radios were used. Then we disconnected the rovers Opportunity and Curiosity and drove to the designated location for about 5 minutes; we parked along the road and explored the region of Marble Ritual, going around the small elevated hill South of the site. We observed a peculiar structure that turned out to be an ant hill with a closer inspection. We walked back to the rovers and returned to the habitat in about 5 minutes, where the rovers were parked and connected to the charger. Once in the airlock, one of the suit’s fans appeared to be malfunctioning, but it was verified that the switch was turned off accidentally whilst leaving from the rover, suggesting that additional protection of the switch might be required. After 5 minutes of pressurization, the EVA was considered successfully completed. Pictures were taken during the mission, and some will be included in the pics of the day. The long-range comm system has been repaired and was tested in the second EVA of the day.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): N4250800 E518700 Sector 12S

Participants: Paolo Guardabasso (Commander), Vittorio Netti (Medic), Hector Palomeque, Zoe Townsend.

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110 (0.5km towards the North), you will find attached a plot of the actual GPS track with altitude and speed data (FYI).

Mode of travel: Rovers (Opportunity, Curiosity), Walking