Crew 212 EVA Report 13-MAY-2019
EVA #09
Author: Vittorio Netti
Purpose of EVA:
Primary objective
Testing the first BVLOS mission of the "Palantir" fixes wing drone (Success)
Testing the flight attitude shifting capabilities of the "X-5" fixes wing VTOL drone (Partial Failure)
Measuring the Oxygen fluxus from the SpaceSuit under extensive stress (Partial Success)
Measuring the Oxygen level in blood after extensive stress in Spacesuit (Success)
Secondary objectives
Collecting aerial photos of the martian surface (Success)
Testing the assisting landing capabilities of the drone (Success)
Testing the ground control station during the auto mission mode (Success)
Start time: 16:00 AM
End time: 18:33 AM
Narrative:
The purpose of this EVA was to
The equipment was composed by:
– Palantir drone
– Ex Case 1 (pressurized)
– Ground Station Tripod
Since two experiments were foreseen for this EVA, two rovers were needed. Spirit presented anomalous battery consumption rates in the past days, so we decided to leave it at the Hab. Curiosity has always functioned nominally. Although Opportunity had overheating problems on last Sunday (Sol 0), it has been performing nominally in the past EVAs; while keeping the driving speed low, we decided to take it, as the EVA destination didn’t require a long drive (approx 15 minutes each way).
Opportunity departed from the hab with 100% of battery.
Curiosity departed from the hab with 100% of battery.
We departed from the Hab around 4:15 PM and drove towards north to free the mouse (captured last night) before Cowboy’s Corner; the speed was maintained low to avoid overheating problems with Oppi. After that, both rovers performed a U-turn and drove in the direction of URC North Site. At around 50 meters from the final objective, Opportunity stopped, and the battery overheating warning was on. Battery level at that point was 99%. We tried to start the engine many times, but the alarm was always on and didn’t let the engine start.
Since that we were on the experiment site, we decided to leave the rovers and start the experiment procedures, hoping that the Opportunity batteries can cool down during that time.
Together with Paolo we proceeded to assembly the drones and the GCS. At the same time, Zoe and Camilo proceeded to set a running track in order to perform their experiment under stress.
The "Palantir" drone has been hand-launched by Paolo and suddenly the control has been taken by the program, that started the automatic photosurvey of the area. During the mission "Palantir took more than 150photos, mapping more than 45 Hectare of terrain in 28 minutes.
Zoe and Camillo proceeded with the experiment, running through the track for 10 minutes with their suit on, on which they previously sealed the external openings.
After the landing, the Palantir has been recovered without damages. Together with Paolo we proceeded to assembly and arming the X-5 for his test.
The X-5 take-off happened at 17.45, but after the transition to the Plane mode the aerodynamic surfaces resulted not to be controllable enough from the software. We tried to perform a controlled soft landing without success. The plane suffered an impact to the ground that destroyed both the motor support plates.
At the end of experiments, since Opportunity was still off, we received authorization from the Director to use one rover to carry all four EVA crew members back to the Hab, leaving all the equipment in the overheated rover to have place for all the crewmember. The crashed drone has been left on his impact point in order to perform further analysis on the impact dynamic
Opportunity was retrieved later by the Director and an out-of-sim crew member. During the recovery, the X-5 has been photographed and then stored in the Opportunity trunk together with the rest of the equipment They were able to start the rover and drive to the Hab, where the rover stopped once again, luckily right in front of the Hab.
Destination: URC North Site
Coordinates: (UTM NAD27 CONUS): 519012.00 E, 4251740.00 N, Zone 12S
EVA Participants: Vittorio Netti (Commander), Camillo Zorro (Medic), Zoe Townsend, Paolo Guardabasso
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel: driving
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