Wed 6 Nov Sol 10
by Sandy Dance
Another day, another EVA! But we are not so blasé. T
his morning Guy and I went out to the micrometeorite grid to gather more magnetic particles. We motor along the road in our space suits and buggies, turn a corner and there is a large collection of vehicles. Oh no, our patch has been invaded!
Closer inspection reveals a film crew with all you would expect: catering, equipment, props. We wave as we pass, and get multiply photographed in return. They seemed to take the sight of Martians motoring by in their stride.
The micrometeorite gathering was a success, having done a couple more rows of the grid, dealing with the footprints left by an unknown interloper the other day by noting which squares were contaminated and carrying on.
Then back at the Science Dome Andrew begins analysing yesterday’s gypsum by heating it and seeing the water condensation on a beaker, then finding the weight difference: 0.4g of water from 17g of rock.
Success!
Later that afternoon we spot a couple of strangers walking on the hill near the Outpost. After failing to raise Shannon on the radio, we break sim and investigate. Turns out they were heading to the film crew up the road but got confused by our rather SciFi setup here. The film, they tell us, features futuristic Native Americans in a post-apocalyptic dystopia.
Last night we were successful spotting Saturn with the Celestron telescope: great sightseeing the rings!