Crew 279 EVA Report 06-04-2023
EVA #4
Author : Gwenaël le Bussy, Crew Astronomer
Purpose of EVA:
After testing the 2 software for Augustin’s drone, he chose one. To test how the drone reacts to relief, he intends to go to Kissing Camel Ridge to do a mapping of 250m by 229m at low altitude. This place will serve as the first test for low altitude flight. Then he will go to White Rock Canyon where he will do the same thing but with relief on both sides. This time the map will be 250m by 310m. The drone will make a first flight between 20 and 50 meters above sea level to map any obstacles and then a second flight at low altitude. He will need support to launch the drone and to always have a visual view of the drone when Augustin sees the view of the drone through his phone.
The experiment is to see how a drone can be useful to find regions protected from radiation (either for extremophile bacteria or for astronauts themself). To do this, Kissing Camel Ridge W gives a good area with a lot of relief. Then canyon in general can be an interesting place to look for since the water has dragged the rock and potentially offer cavities giving protected area from
Gwen will also test a new reportage camera and focus on obturation time. A fourth person will be needed as technical support, especially for microphone tests (If we hear well on Gwen’s camera). If all these tests are ok, they will start the report.
Start time: 9:13 am
End time: 12 am
Narrative:
First, we went to the Kissing Camel Ridge W (KCRW) ; beginning at 100% battery for both rovers, we ended up with 84% for Spirit and 85% for Curiosity for the 1.01 mile drive. Both rovers were on « M » drive mode and the drive was smooth without speeding. Such consumption seems strange to us and we have a few hypothesis for that behaviour :
Battery consumption is not linear and the first pourcentages are consumed faster
When the battery is « cold » the rover consumes more
Maybe driving mode should be switched to « F » for long distances.
Arriving at KCRW, Augustin started the mapping with the drone while Gwen was testing some settings for best audio and video for reporting. During the mapping, the drone crashed on top of KCRW and the EVA crew had to recover it ; with the approval of the Hab, we started ascending KCRW. Because of the terrain, the EVA crew had to pass by the South side of the KCRW to climb on top. This side of the ridge is in fact in the opposite way the Hab and we lost communication between members of the EVA. Gwen communicated the problem to the Hab then the EVA crew members switched to Channel 2 for communicating on the ridge. In fact, this choice cuts communication with the Hab and we had to inform them. We continued ascending the ridge, reached the top and found the crashed drone. Hopefully, the drone was reparable and Augustin was able to continue the mapping of KCRW.
On top, Gwen was able to communicate again with the Hab (by switching to channel 1) and transmitted all the necessary information to the EVA crew who stayed on Channel 2. Because of the crash, we lost a lot of time and decided with the Hab control to stay on KCRW for the all EVA instead of going to White Rock Canyon after. This allowed Augustin to finish the mapping of KCRW.
At 11:15 AM, the EVA crew decided to start the descent to the rovers by the same route as the climb to avoid risky choices and injuries. The crew returned in time to the Hab after reporting the parameters of the four rovers.
Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge W
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518000 E, 4249500 N
Participants: Gwen (EVA Leader)(Astronomer), Ttele (HSO), Antoine (Commander), Augustin (GreenHab officer)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel: Drive for a first stop between Kissing Camel Ridge W and E then walking along side of the north face of Kissing Camel Ridge W. Then climbing on top of KCRW